As part of the continuing trend towards networked home entertainment, television sets will increasingly include wired or wireless connections to online content. A new study from ABI Research forecasts that in 2011, some 20 million TVs offering wireless connectivity will be shipped worldwide. This segment is expected to show linear growth through the study’s forecast horizon of 2014. Network connectivity does already exist in high-end models, and networked TVs are already quite widespread in Japan. According to industry analyst Michael Inouye, “North America, Western Europe, and select Asian countries are seen as the next growth markets, and the 2009 holiday season and 2010 will be the watershed periods when vendors will see whether networked TV should trickle down to mainstream models and really take off there.” Ethernet will handle the wired type of connection in most cases, but will wireless technology prevail? If it does, the most likely candidate is Wi-Fi, although it’s true that 802.11b and 802.11g may suffer some latency and interference problems. 802.11n Wi-Fi, though, should provide a fully capable connection, and its growing adoption will improve support for networked TVs. ABI Research’s new report, “Internet and Web-Enabled HD TVs” discusses the current issues facing the market and the drivers that will help shape it moving forward. Forecasts include: LCD/PDP unit shipments by region, home networks by region, and Wire/Wireless FPTV shipments by region.

The number of IPTV subscribers worldwide exceeded 26 million in 2008 and is expected to surge to nearly 155 million by 2013, according to the latest quarterly survey of the market from Infonetics Research. Despite the rosy forecast, IPTV service providers and cable operators worldwide pulled back their spending on technology, which drove down spending on overall IPTV and switched digital video equipment by 11 percent in the first quarter, the report says. However, spending growth is expected to return over the next four quarters. According to the research firm’s “IPTV and Switched Digital Video Equipment, Services and Subscribers” report, the recession and a slowdown in AT&T U-Verse IPTV rollouts were responsible for the dip, which pushed worldwide sales of IPTV and switched digital video equipment in the first quarter down to $1 billion. The only region of the world to see growth in IPTV and switched digital video equipment revenue during the quarter was Central and South America.

Online video innovator Move Networks has appointed a former DirectTV executive to run the company. A former partner at Deloitte, Roxanne Austin helped transition DirecTV from the Hughes defence and aerospace corporation and became chief operating officer of the satellite television company. She said the company now has an end-to-end system that aims to set the standard for television delivered over the Internet. Roxanne Austin arrives at Move Networks as it moves from being an innovative provider of high quality streaming media to offering an end-to-end system that the Company claims can deliver a television quality experience online. The venture capital backed company currently provides online video streaming services for the ABC, ESPN, and Fox television networks in the United States, among others. Shareholders include Microsoft, Cisco, and Comcast. Move Networks has also acquired Inuk Networks, a broadband video service provider based in the United Kingdom. Among other things, that gave them a software STB that provides a television experience on a broadband connected computer.

At IBC2009, NDS will be located at stand 1.A71 and will spotlight technology solutions for digital pay-TV. NDS will showcase the industry's most comprehensive range of proven and innovative new technologies, including... MediaHighway®, NDS' powerful STB software, which enables operators to engage and maintain viewer interest with new digital pay-TV services, the key to growing ARPU, and to reduce churn. MediaHighway powers cable, satellite, terrestrial and IPTV deployments, as well as hybrid networks and multi-screen convergence environments. Then there's VideoGuard CA/DRM, the engine that powers the NDS Unified Headend™, the convergence platform that enables operators to securely and seamlessly deliver entertainment and information services to multiple screens — STBs, PCs, mobile handsets, removable media and portable media players (PMPs). Also on display will be VideoGuard Express™, NDS' all-in-one, entry-level CA/DRM solution for smaller platforms and emerging markets. With VideoGuard Express, operators of smaller or just-launching digital pay-TV businesses can benefit from the same market-beating VideoGuard technology that protects the revenues of leading pay-TV providers around the globe. The VideoGuard suite of products has a robust, cost-effective solution for every pay-TV service provider, whatever its size and location. The Company's on-demand demos will feature non-linear viewing for all types of device, from DVR to Zapper and from TV to PC and portable media players. They will incorporate enhanced time-shifting, VOD, Progressive Download and hyperlinking between premium broadcast content and contextually matching online video. Visitors to the NDS stand will get a glimpse of how 3DTV could be a reality in consumers’ homes. IPC and mobile solutions on display will include PC Show™, the secure solution for delivering premium broadcast and on-demand content on the PC — now also supporting Apple's range of computers — an iPhone application, voice recognition on the STB and program booking from the PC as well as from on-screen promos. In addition, NDS representatives will present a technical paper on “The Challenges of 3D Support in the STB” at the IBC conference.

Italy's state-owned RAI SpA and commercial broadcaster Mediaset SpA (MS.MI) will launch a new satellite platform July 31, in a move expected to increase competition in a market now dominated by News Corp.'s (NWS) satellite TV unit Sky Italia. The new satellite platform, called TivuSat, will be free and will host about 22 channels, including traditional free-to-air and new digital channels. The move aims to drive the switch from analog to digital terrestrial TV in Italy, due to be completed by 2012. However, analysts see the creation of TivuSat as an attempt by RAI and Mediaset, which is owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, to counter competition from Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia. Sky Italia has broken the domestic duopoly of privately owned Mediaset and state-controlled RAI, surpassing Mediaset in terms of overall revenue for the first time in 2008, Italy's telecoms regulator said this month. TivuSat users won't pay for content but will need a decoder and smart card for a total cost of less than 100 euros. RAI and Mediaset each own 48.25 percent of the new venture, Tivu, with Telecom Italia SpA's (TI) media arm holding the remaining 3.5 percent. Sky Italia Tuesday countered by stating they intend to boost their movie offers with a new channel and HD technology, in a move also aimed at offsetting a possible pullout by RAI of its channels from Sky's platform, following the launch of TivuSat. Negotiations on the renewal of an existing contract, which expires at end-July, continue. (Source: Dow Jones Newswires)

Sencore, Inc and Wegener Corporation (Nasdaq: WGNR), have entered into a non-binding letter of intent regarding a possible acquisition of Wegener by Sencore. The acquisition, if completed, would result in a combined company with a best in class management team with tremendous industry knowledge in the content delivery market to offer expanded products for customers, operational efficiencies and converged technology. Currently used in broadcast, radio, telco, enterprise and cable networks to distribute video and audio content to millions of people, WEGENER provides tailored and off-the-shelf solutions to reduce the long-term cost, integration and maintenance with every solution. Sencore provides broadcasters, satellite and cable operators, telcos, retailers, engineers and installers with innovative operational, signal monitoring and analysis, and video/audio distribution equipment. Sencore's content delivery products are used by broadcast, cable, satellite, and telco service providers, across a wide range of applications. Sencore products set the standard for performance, scalable functionality and cost of ownership and are all backed by the absolute best support in the industry. The closing of any transaction is subject to due diligence, the negotiation, and execution of mutually acceptable definitive agreements and the satisfaction of any conditions to closing set forth in those agreements. There can be no assurance that these discussions will lead to a transaction between Sencore and Wegener Corporation, or that the terms set forth in any definitive agreements will be consistent with the current expectations of Wegener Corporation and Sencore, as contemplated by the terms of the letter of intent.

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), announced that GlobeCast Australia has selected the company’s encoders and decoders for all its HD Contribution & Distribution requirements, which includes the distribution of premium sports such as the 2009 Ashes Series Test Cricket to the Southern Hemisphere. GlobeCast Australia is also expanding its TANDBERG Television DSNG (Digital Satellite News Gathering) encoding capabilities. In addition, the company is deploying TANDBERG professional receivers for its new GlobeCam miniature camera broadcast initiative, which provides birds-eye-view live video footage from sports events. For the Sydney international teleport, TANDBERG Television has provided its E5782 MPEG-2 encoders for 4:2:0 and highest quality 4:2:2 profile HD video, and the multi-format RX1290 MPEG-2/MPEG-4 AVC decoders. The company’s SM6620 modulators, which support the DVB-S2 standard, are also being used. For DSNG applications, GlobeCast Australia is using the E5740 Voyager MPEG-2 SD and E5788 Voyager MPEG-2 4:2:2 HD encoders, suited for news gathering or world-class sporting events. GlobeCast Australia is also deploying TANDBERG Television’s TT1222 Integrated Receiver Decoders as part of its recently introduced GlobeCam service. GlobeCam uses miniature cameras to broadcast live, onboard action from sporting events such as motor racing, cycling, aerobatics and sky diving. The new service enables broadcasters to put viewers at the heart of the action, like inside a racing car. GlobeCast already has a four year contract with V8 Supercars for GlobeCam and other customers include Macau Grand Prix and TVN Horse Racing. GlobeCast Australia combines its owned and operated satellite capacity with international fiber contribution and backhaul circuits from New Zealand, London, Washington, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Perth. The company already uses TANDBERG Television C&D solutions on its fiber networks and for DSNG.