May 23, 2011 Vikram R Chari's Journal Volume 2011 issue 26

Sony launches 'Internet TV' http://tvaftertv.com/yzt

Ariane5 launch, here's the replay http://bit.ly/m6bmZe - had Insat satellite as payload

Netflix isn't swamping the Internet; ISPs are overstating their congestion problems http://t.co/RRC3sAN

Mediaset and Telefonica Spain to pilot HbbTV http://dlvr.it/STrqT

LTE Advanced WiMax2 – 4G Explained - As we now know the initial offerings of 4G have... http://bit.ly/66M7rA 

World's largest HD screen makes its debut tonight during NASCAR All-Star race http://engt.co/l6MHBC

World's largest HD screen makes its debut tonight during NASCAR All-Star race http://engt.co/l6MHBC

Yamal 300K delayed, Luch 5B added. http://goo.gl/fb/rgKZh

Express AM4 launch delay http://goo.gl/fb/2Cmbj

Telstar 14R launch success http://goo.gl/fb/iojbr

GSAT-8 coverage/footprints http://goo.gl/fb/0LZjR

Hulu Plus on TiVo promos pop up in stores and online, suggest launch soon http://engt.co/lsVXtL

Cablevision doubles Argentinean subscribers http://is.gd/dLN3wH

Pay TV revenue to top $240bn, despite OTT success http://is.gd/31qhDJ

UTStarcom Launches End-to-End Internet TV Solution and Wins First Commercial http://tvaftertv.com/m8u

ILS... Telstar Trips On Out (Launch) http://goo.gl/fb/GWAJh

Cablevision Wins ITC Ruling In Verizon Set-Top Patent Case - http://t.co/lk5WU9i

Chairman makes surprise appearance at the Ham Radio Convention in Dayton, Ohio  http://twitpic.com/50m8u5

Research and Markets: Finland Telecommunications Report Q2 2011 Includes a 5-Year Industry Forecast Scenario http://bit.ly/mzrexZ

Making Television Social (Part 1) http://ow.ly/50B6z

Brazil's World Cup host cities first in line to get 4G upgrades http://engt.co/mqIzHR

IPTV platforms compete with cable  http://tvaftertv.com/uv9

Samsung serves up five million Internet TV apps http://tvaftertv.com/3o4  Samsung #TVApps Pass 5 Million Downloads http://ow.ly/50Acp

NOS reports connected TV usage; Spanish HbbTV pilot: http://conta.cc/kVObUq 

Ericsson IPTV Remote wins Connected TV Award - Screen Africa http://bit.ly/lWjqEA

Optimal Solutions is moving beyond GR with its interactive IPTV software - WZZM  http://bit.ly/ldH6EC

Sky 3D wins BAFTA for Attenborough’s Flying Monsters http://dlvr.it/SgSxM

ADB adds 3D UI for  http://dlvr.it/SgSwp

AT&T looks to outpace Verizon with 28.7Mbps LTE network demo http://goo.gl/fb/Hod01

BBC HD quietly begins broadcasting in 1080p, but not all Sony HDTVs can handle it http://engt.co/iteAyj

httv partners Normandie TV for the first HbbTV applications deployment in Europe. http://bit.ly/m7bus1

NOS releases connected TV usage http://tinyurl.com/3d2kb5w

HK telecom body to grant three free-to-air TV licences: PCCW, i-Cable and City Telecom expected to receive licences...http://bit.ly/lh1HsA

MTNL to hire PricewaterhouseCoopers as consultant: Indian telco looking for help to establish business model for...http://bit.ly/kwFWSy

S Korea govt to discuss ways to lower mobile service charges: Country's vice minister of strategy and finance said...http://bit.ly/lYKS32

Telecom NZ attempts to register new trade mark: Move sparks speculation telco is planning new mobile venture. http://bit.ly/k36Ldu

Western Europe digital TV penetration to reach 99% by 2016http://t.co/KdfNpru on-demand TV revenues will growth by 39% between 2010 & 2016

TV5 Monde widens Bulgarian reach http://dlvr.it/SfZ56

Czech Television prepares HbbTV pilot broadcast with ANTIK Technology http://bit.ly/kBwOWm

Italy – March 2011 DTT decoder market http://bit.ly/lheyPz

Doordarshan Plants A Major Bouquet (SatBroadcasting™)http://goo.gl/fb/EypdT

GlobeCast... Moving On Up... http://goo.gl/fb/zhYKQ

MCS to launch IPTV channel MCS Bien-être http://tvaftertv.com/n3t 

Maxdome expands VOD offer http://dlvr.it/SfMf0

Universal Weather and Aviation selects Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband http://i.gsat.cl/m5EYF4

ATTN CARRIERS, special report IPTV: Competition in Flux learn how to navigate (& compete in) the tricky waters of IPTV http://bit.ly/lnBMGW

44% of consumers use social networks to enhance TV viewing http://bit.ly/mBLUxi 

Ericsson received award for best contribution to LTE R&D - Ericsson http://t.co/CdmODs4 

Yahoo Connects With Broadcasters | Broadcasting & Cable http://ow.ly/50IBO

Cable TV lost ground to IPTV and Internet TV in first quarter of 2011.... http://fb.me/xjBinHD3

Cable and satellite TV lead boom in Western spending on entertainment media: Consumer expenditures on entertainment...http://bit.ly/kghDI0

Czech Republic next for HbbTV trials: Czech Television (Ceska televize) and Slovak manufacturer of set-top boxes...http://bit.ly/kTKUc0

Pay-TV revenues in Western Europe "will not grow" over next five years: Annual pay-TV subscription revenue... http://bit.ly/jDhYza 

Total number of payTV subscriptions expected to exceed 759 million by end of 2011: http://bit.ly/kHit0p

Low customer satisfaction could get worse following AT&T, T-Mobile merger http://j.mp/iTEgDk

Telstra proudly declares intent to cut off bandwidth hogs http://j.mp/irr0n0 #mwd11

Turner 'TV Everywhere' Expands Into AT&T's U-verse - http://t.co/bTeko5o

Broadcasters Shy Away from 3-D TV http://bit.ly/k9lKol

DLNA Advances Playback of Video Across DLNA Certified Products: The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) release...http://bit.ly/mydrBy

XFinity TV App Offers 6,000 Hours of On Demand Content: Comcast Corporation digital subscribers using the Apple iPad...http://bit.ly/kwSqub

Visionary Solutions Enhances AVN Series IPTV Encoders http://tvaftertv.com/qq9

Govt plans to raise FDI cap in DTH, IPTV and FM - Times of Indiahttp://bit.ly/mfORFE

Samsung TV App Downloads Top 5 Million http://bit.ly/jT96Sb

US still hasn't gotten its act together on broadband deployment http://j.mp/iOCROW

Video Conferencing now follows Holography protocols for Unified Communications

Now Video Conferencing gets the holographic treatment with TIP protocol. Unified communications will get a definite boost.

Polycom officials a year ago dismissed rival Cisco Systems' newly introduced immersive video conferencing interoperability protocol as a tool for the larger company to dominate the crucial issue of making telepresence systems work together.

Now Polycom officials are ready to embrace TIP (Telepresence Interoperability Protocol), saying in an announcement that adoption of the protocol in their products is part of their larger UCEverywhere strategy. The initiative is designed to let consumers and businesses of all sizes that use Polycom technology collaborate with others regardless of the platforms they use.

Innovations in Polycom's UC Intelligent Core platform also make it easier for service providers to offer cloud-based, open UC (unified communications) telepresence services, according to the company. In announcing the company's support for Cisco's TIP Feb. 9, Polycom CEO Andrew Miller said the move not only will help Polycom users, but also customers of his larger rival.

"Cisco customers have told us for years that they've been imprisoned by a closed telepresence platform that builds a wall around their UC environment and keeps out non-Cisco users. Today, all that changes," Miller said in a statement. "With its unparalleled support of open standards, the Polycom UC Intelligent Core solution liberates these customers and gives them more options for collaborating and expanding their UC environments than ever before, without having to sacrifice their existing systems. Breakthroughs like this are fundamental to our vision of UCEverywhere."

Polycom products will support TIP starting in the second quarter, the company said.

Cisco introduced TIP, which company officials have said is designed to enable multiscreen telepresence interoperability, in January 2010, and at the time said that several vendors, including LifeSize Communications and Radvision, had signed on. In addition, Cisco last year began putting TIP support into products gained through its acquisition of telepresence vendor Tandberg.

However, Polycom officials said they had little interest in TIP, arguing that they were wary of any protocol push being promoted by such a dominant vendor. They also noted that there had been other standards, such as H.264 and H.239, that had been created though independent bodies for single-display video conferencing, and said the same third-party approach could be used for multidisplay telepresence systems.

Cisco officials said when introducing TIP that their intent was to move the proposed standard to a third-party body, and in April 2010, the company turned it over to the IMTC (International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium), which will manage it as an industry standard.

Having Polycom join the fold is important, given that together, Cisco and Polycom control more than 80 percent of the worldwide telepresence market. Cisco officials applauded the decision. They stressed that TIP is an open protocol, not a proprietary standard managed by Cisco.

"We are pleased to hear that Polycom is joining other companies in adopting the Telepresence Interoperability Protocol [TIP]," David Hsieh, vice president of emerging technologies for Cisco, said in a statement. "We believe that there is market transition to the pervasive adoption of video, and customers want interoperability without compromise. The value for customers is to enable any-to-any multiscreen interoperability so that there are more people to talk to."