Related news roundup - 12 Dec

Posted by andrew pascoe on December 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

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.

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Canvas & related news roundup - 22 Sep

Posted by andrew pascoe on September 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Whew - it’s been a while since our last update - apologies!

In the world o’ Project Canvas news:

  • According to this interview in PC Pro with the BBC’s Canvas project director, Richard Halton, the BBC “hope to hear back from the BBC Trust”‘ by Oct 1. Could he mean the the Trust’s provisional conclusions on the Canvas consultation will be published by Oct 1? Halton in the same Q&A also suggests there’ll be something more to announce regarding Channel 4 soon (although surely they’re a little busy now replacing Andy Duncan?).
  • Project Canvas was actually covered in the New York Times two days ago - the article is here. The Euro-wide HbbT is also covered. Interestingly, Richard Halton on timing: he hopes that Canvas will be in use for the 2012 Olympic games. Is Canvas internally starting to pushout its  consumer start milestone timings?
  • At the Westminster eForum event (15 Sep), Richard Halton also announced an intention to have a software development kit (SDK) available for Project Canvas by summer 2010. Broadcast Now article here.
  • From the IBC (14 Sep) Microsoft announced they are considering incorporating Canvas as part of Mediaroom - its IPTV product offering - if it was truly open with no proprietary standards. There’s a ConnectedTV post here with more info.
  • Going all the way back to early this month  (3 Sep), Broadcast Now ran an article explaining how the DTG (Digital TV Group) is stepping up work on fleshing out the core technical specifications, and that related to that and other steps related to developing the standards, the BBC is continuing to hire personnel to work on Canvas.

In related VOD & IPTV news:

  • Ofcom published proposals (14 Sep) on how to regulate video on demand services. The Ofcom consultation page is here.
  • At the IBC, Erik Huggers formally announced plans to create Open iPlayer - this was the initiative that was until now known as Project Marquee, and is based around opening up the technology behind iPlayer to other public service broadcasters   Broadband TV news article here. It sounds though like the Open iPlayer - which as the BBTV News article highlights still needs approval from the BBC Trust - might be made available to broadcasters from other countries also.
  • After releasing an upgrade for the Sony PS3, the games console is now making up 10% of BBC iPlayer views. ITProPortal article here. The other big TV-based iPlayer implementation  is Virgin TV which historically accounts for approximately one third of iPlayer streams, and of course there is a Nintendo Wii implementation as well.

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