Related news roundup - 12 Dec

A few highlights from the world of IPTV, VoD, and more from the last few weeks:

• Dec 7: BT - through their wholesle arm - are trialling an initiative called “Content Connect” whose aim is to improve video delivery by hosting popular video content at the actual ISP.  There’s a good Guardian article here (which says that the trails include BBC and 4oD content). There is also a presentation from BT Wholesale on Content Connect from 12 months ago, posted on Scribd here.
• Dec 3: Five announced that it has bring its on-demand catalogue to YouTube, joining Channel 4. Broadband TV News article. PaidContent UK article.
• Dec 2: Seesaw - the Arqiva-owned VoD initiative that was Project Kangaroo - has signed up its first content: some shows from BBC Worldwide.  DTG post.
• Dec 2: Freeview HD was turned on. It was more a technical milestone than a c0mmercial one, but it gets a mainstream Freeview HD push closer. Broadband TV News article.  It was also announced on the same day that (regular) Freeview passed the mark of being in 10 million homes.
• Also, at the Freeview HD launch, Freeview MD Ilse Howling also commented that they are looking at brining IPTV services to DTT. Digital Spy article.
• Nov 28: Reportedly, BBC iPlayer won’t be coming to the Xbox 360 anytime soon, because of Microsoft’s policy of charging for content access (through Xbox Live) conflicting with the BBC’s public access remit . Telegraph article here.
• Nov 27: Tivo has partnered with Virgin Media to return to the UK - they’ll be powering a new Virgin set top box (STB). Broadband TV News article.
• Nov 27: The BBC released some detailed iPlayer usage statistics (likely in a bid to be seen to be more open, and also to demonstrate the appetitite for on-demand). The BBC Internet Blog post is here. The file itself is available here (PPT - 2.4mb). And CXO magazine have made some of the stats into an infographic here.