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Here is a round-up of some other recent interactive TV-related stories that we didn't have room for in this issue:

Here is a round-up of some other recent interactive TV-related stories that we didn't have room for in this issue:

Interactive TV and conditional access technology provider, NDS, announced Tuesday that Israeli satellite TV operator, Yes, has launched an NDS-powered VOD service, based on progressive download (PDL) technology, for its hybrid satellite/IP DVR platform. According to NDS, the service, which allows users to download movies or series to their MaxTotal HD DVR over the open Internet to watch immediately or later, currently provides access to 5,000 free and paid titles, including HD content, and will add hundreds of new titles each month.

Here is a round-up of some of other recent interactive TV-related stories that we didn't have room for in this issue:

Espial, the Canadian digital TV software company that in 2008 bought US IPTV and video-on-demand technology provider, Kasenna (note: the deal valued Kasenna, which had raised $90 million in funding since its launch in 2000, at around $6.5 million), said Wednesday that Chinese cable operator, Jilin Cable Network, has selected its Espial MediaBase VOD platform to power a range of on-demand services. Espial acquired the MediaBase product line through the Kasenna purchase. According to Espial, Jilin, which serves 3 million subscribers in northeast China, is using MediaBase to offer VOD, TV on-demand, network DVR and timeshift-TV services to hundreds of thousands of subscribers, using more than 60 time-shift TV channel captures.

A number of items of broadband video news came across [itvt]'s desk Tuesday. Here is a brief round-up:

A number of items of broadband-video and live-streaming news have come across [itvt]'s desk over the past few days. Here is a brief round-up:

Interactive TV and conditional access technology provider, NDS, and Chinese value-added TV service provider, DOXTV, on Wednesday announced the launch of what they say is China's first HD DVR and push-VOD service. The service, part of an offering dubbed Chongqing Cable TV+, is offered to subscribers of Chongqing Cable (note: the latter claims to have around 5 million analog and digital subs), which, in addition to NDS's XTV DVR technology with push-VOD capability, has deployed the company's MediaHighway middleware, its VideoGuard conditional access system, and an EPG co-developed by NDS and DOXTV.

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue:

Espial, the Canadian digital TV software company that last year bought US IPTV and video-on-demand technology provider, Kasenna (note: the deal valued Kasenna, which had raised $90 million in funding since its launch in 2000, at around $6.5 million), will today announce that Chinese tier-one cable operator, Chongqing Cable TV Network, has selected its Espial MediaBase VOD platform to power its VOD services. Espial acquired the MediaBase product line through the Kasenna purchase. Chongqing Cable TV Network, which is located in southwest China, claims to provide analog and digital TV services to 4.2 million subscribers.

Helsinki-based interactive TV company, Icareus (note: the company's offerings include a range of authoring and delivery solutions for MHP, OCAP/tru2way, MHEG and other platforms, as well as an extensive catalog of off-the-shelf interactive TV games and other applications), said Wednesday that it has signed a cooperation agreement with Shanghai Telecom, a subsidiary of telecommunications giant, China Telecom.

Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility unit said Monday that a major Chinese MSO, Jiangsu Broadcasting Television Network (JBTN), is using its end-to-end VOD solution to expand its VOD offering to more subscribers in Jiangsu (note: Motorola claims that the deal makes JBTN's Jiangsu VOD deployment one of the largest in China). The deal between the companies sees Motorola--which has been working with JBTN on its Jiangsu VOD roll-out for around two years now--providing JBTN with its B-1 Video server, which Motorola bills as the world's most widely deployed solid state video server (and which it acquired via its purchase of Broadbus, back in 2006), and its new B-3 Video Server.

Concurrent--a company best known for its VOD solutions, but which now positions itself as a provider of "solutions that enable the seamless delivery, management and monetization of video on any screen"--announced Tuesday that it is expanding its operations in the Asia Pacific region, in order to further what it calls its "global three-screen strategy," and that it has hired Steve VonderHaar to head up its office in Hong Kong and its operation in Beijing (note: it also maintains an office in Tokyo that is headed up by Oasamu Nakamura).

Interactive TV and advance advertising technology provider, OpenTV, announced Tuesday that it has launched an end-to-end middleware solution for Southern Yinshi Network Media, a subsidiary of Chinese broadcasting group, Southern Media Corp, that has been tasked with implementing the digital conversion of 18 of the latter's municipal and city cable networks.

Strategy & Technology--a UK-based company that specializes in solutions for standards-based interactive TV (its products include the TSBroadcaster and TSPlayer systems, which are used for the creation and transmission of MHP, MHEG, tru2way and ETV applications; and the widely licensed RedKey MHEG engines)--said Tuesday that it has licensed its RedKey 2 MHEG solution to China's Celestial Semiconductors.