SeaChange said its IPTV products are being used for Indian pay-TV subscribers of Bharat Sanchar and Mahanagar Telephone. Those companies will use the cable vendor’s products to let customers pause live TV, get “integrated” e-mail and watch on-demand video and broadcast TV, SeaChange said Monday. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
SeaChange said its IPTV products are being used for Indian pay-TV subscribers of Bharat Sanchar and Mahanagar Telephone. Those companies will use the cable vendor’s products to let customers pause live TV, get “integrated” e-mail and watch on-demand video and broadcast TV, SeaChange said Monday. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Google’s admitted practice of overcharging AdWords customers on a daily, but not monthly, basis will carry a $20 million price tag if approved by a federal judge. The company settled a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by CLRB Hanson Industries in U.S. District Court, San Jose, Calif., without admitting it was wrong to do. Google charged some advertisers up to 20 percent more than their daily budgets called for, to make up for days where their daily limits weren’t reached, but stayed within their monthly budget limits. Judge James Ware twice refused to dismiss the 2005 case, saying the daily overages were inherently injurious, but narrowed the class to advertisers whose ad campaigns lasted less than a month, ended mid-month, or “paused” their campaigns (WID Dec 19 p6).
SeaChange International and TiVo will solicit tier 2 cable operators in offering video-on-demand through CableCARD-equipped DVRs, a SeaChange official said. Those service providers are the target because larger ones have “fairly mature” plans for tru2way, a SeaChange official said. The service -- billed as a way for MSOs to increase VoD revenue without waiting for tru2way deployment -- uses TiVo electronic program guide to search for VoD content, company officials said. Video will continue to be transmitted using QAM multiplex, but the broadband connection will be used as a return path to set-up streaming and to pause, rewind and fast-forward programing, company officials said. TiVo also signed an agreement with Alticast to graft its DVR software onto Alticast’s middleware platform that’s used in cable set- top boxes and Blu-ray players. Alticast counts Broadcom and Intel among its customers for Blu-ray, and its technology has been used in Samsung, Best Buy’s Insignia and Vizio players, a company spokesman said. Alticast’s tru2way customers include Humax, Kaon, LG Electronics, Pace and Samsung. Alticast’s electronics program guide and DVR software are used in South Korea and the U.S.
Tough Obama administration restrictions on lobbying by senior level appointees before and after they leave government service probably won’t create major difficulties for the next FCC chairman in hiring staff to fill senior positions from outside the agency, industry officials said Thursday. But it could cause some to pause before taking a job with the government. The restrictions also apply to NTIA and other government agencies that oversee communications policy.
Sling Media said it released the beta version of its Slingplayer Mobile software for some Research In Motion smartphones, including the BlackBerry Bold, the Curve and the Pearl. The software was previewed by an executive at Macworld (WID Jan 8 p8). The application allows customers to view their home TV via mobile phones and other Internet-connected devices. BlackBerry smartphone users can also control their DVRs to play recorded programs as well as pause, rewind and fast-forward live TV, or program new recordings.
Sling Media said it released the beta version of its Slingplayer Mobile software for some Research In Motion smartphones, including the BlackBerry Bold, the Curve and the Pearl. The application allows customers to view their home TV via mobile phones and other Internet-connected devices. BlackBerry smartphone users can also control their DVRs to play recorded programs as well as pause, rewind and fast- forward live TV, or program new recordings.
Sling Media said it released the beta version of its SlingPlayer Mobile software for some Research In Motion smartphones, including the BlackBerry Bold, the Curve and the Pearl. The application allows customers to view their home TV via mobile phones and other Internet-connected devices. BlackBerry smartphone users can also control their DVRs to play recorded programs as well as pause, rewind and fast- forward live TV, or program new recordings.
Addressing an audience mildly hostile to TiVo and other time-shifting devices, Mark Risis, director of interactive ad sales, told attendees Tuesday at the Future of Television conference in New York that broadcasters and advertisers should be seeking new ways to reach consumers with the 30- second commercial. Risis was a panelist during a session devoted to rethinking traditional TV advertising.
With a lobbying ban looming, telecom interests are making feverish last-minute pitches to sway commissioners on possible overhauls for the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation. Unless the FCC says otherwise, lobbying on the issue ends sometime Tuesday, with release of the commission’s sunshine notice for the Nov. 4 meeting. Verizon recently joined AT&T and Qwest in endorsing comprehensive reform.