ITV

Tag: Motorola

  • Motorola to extend portfolio of ‘video anywhere’ solutions with acquisition

    Motorola to extend portfolio of ‘video anywhere’ solutions with acquisition

    MUMBAI: Motorola will acquire the American firm Broadbus Technologies. It provides technology solutions for Television On-Demand (TOD).

    Broadbus Technologies’ carrier-class technology solutions enable the distribution of on-demand content to consumers through multiple devices. The company’s innovative solid-state server architecture is based on the intelligent configuration and management of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). As a result, the platform can use less space and power than traditional hard-disk based technology, while providing performance, reliability and scalability improvements for video ingest, streaming, and storage.

    With the acquisition, Motorola will extend its video delivery platform with new content management and distribution capabilities that address growing market opportunities such as mobile video, video-on-demand (VOD), time-shifted TV, network-based digital video recording (nDVR), on-demand ad insertion (ODAI) and switched digital video (SDV).

    Motorola connected home solutions president Dan Moloney says, “Today, consumers expect to access video entertainment on the different devices they have, inside and outside of their home, in varying formats – and to have it available upon request. The addition of Broadbus Technologies will bring Motorola’s video delivery platform one step closer to enabling this vision of seamless mobility by providing us with field-proven content management and delivery solutions.

    “Service providers will be able to take advantage of a complete end-to-end seamless video experience enabled by Motorola technology to extend their customer relationships.”

  • Motorola, Yahoo! expand global alliance

    Motorola, Yahoo! expand global alliance

    MUMBAI: Motorola and portal Yahoo have announced a new multi-year agreement to distribute Yahoo! Go for Mobile on tens of millions of new Motorola mobile devices.

    TThe deal brings an integrated suite of Yahoo!’s services including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Address Book and Yahoo! Local into a single application that connects consumers to their personalized Internet experience through their mobile device.

    As part of the agreement, Motorola will pre-load and prominently feature Yahoo! Go for Mobile on optimised handsets worldwide starting in the first half of 2007, giving consumers quick and easy access to their Internet content and services. The devices will be available to consumers in a number of markets across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

    Motorola corporate VP product and Xperience invention, mobile devices Scott Durchslag says, “This agreement is an important next step in showing the world the best of what can happen when Motorola’s Seamless Mobility meets Yahoo!’s Connected Life services,” said “Our collaboration with Yahoo! on exciting future versions of Yahoo! Go for Mobile will ensure that our customers and consumers get the most optimized Yahoo! experience possible on the coolest mobile devices.”

    Yahoo senior VP connected life Marco Boerries, “Consumers are no longer tethered to just accessing Internet on their desktop computer, so we are bringing the best of Yahoo!’s services to the device they always have with them and use multiple times every day – their mobile phone.

    “Together, Yahoo! and Motorola are making it easier than ever before for consumers to seamlessly access their favorite web services, information and content across both their personal computer and mobile phone.”

    Motorola and Yahoo! had announced their global alliance in July 2005 and have worked closely over the past year to deliver on their commitment to make it easy for consumers to access and use Internet services on Motorola devices. The companies will jointly market the Motorola devices with Yahoo! Go for Mobile pre-installed through their online networks, device packaging and other targeted channels.

  • OpenTV to offer advanced digital television solutions to Time Warner Cable

    OpenTV to offer advanced digital television solutions to Time Warner Cable

    MUMBAI: OpenTV Corp. a provider of enabling technologies for advanced digital television services has announced a multi-year license agreement with Time Warner Cable to deploy the cable operator’s digital navigator on the Open TV platform.

    The Time Warner Cable digital navigator will enhance existing programme guides, facilitate cross platform integrated services and speed to market new product introductions on the company’s Motorola set-top boxes.

    Additionally, OpenTV’s Core 2.0 software and related interactive television services will be available to Time Warner Cable divisions running Motorola equipment for deployment.

    This licensing agreement represents the first US cable deployment of OpenTV’s advanced digital solutions and applications, informs an official release.

    Initial launch of OpenTV’s solutions is expected in late 2006 on Time Warner Cable’s Motorola set-top boxes, ranging from the DCT-2000 to more full-featured Motorola set-top boxes. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    OpenTV will provide its Core 2.0 set-top software, interactive applications, and infrastructure systems for application delivery, set-top messaging, and advanced two-way communications.

    As part of the deal, OpenTV has agreed to make available a variety of interactive applications for Time Warner Cable’s use, and expects to write additional applications for the OpenTV platform, OCAP, and other platforms that Time Warner Cable introduces within its Divisions.

    “This deal marks a historic milestone for OpenTV and the culmination of many years of work,” said OpenTV CEO James A.Chiddix. “Gaining a strong foothold in the U.S. cable market has long been a goal of OpenTV, and with an anchor customer like Time Warner Cable we now have a firm foundation from which to continue extending and enhancing our solutions and services as digital television moves ahead in the market. We look forward to fostering this new relationship with Time Warner Cable and furthering its commitment in delivering choice, quality, and value to its subscribers with the most advanced digital television services.”

  • Motorola and Sentivision to provide set-tops for major Japanese IPTV rollout

    Motorola and Sentivision to provide set-tops for major Japanese IPTV rollout

    MUMBAI: Motorola, Inc. has announced that Sentivision, a provider of media technologies and products for digital entertainment, has selected the Motorola VIP series IPTV set-top platform for providing video service to Japanese subscribers.

    Sentivision becomes the first service provider outside of North America to deploy the Motorola VIP set-top, further establishing Motorola as a leading global provider of Telco TV solutions.

    As a standards-based, open-architecture platform, the Motorola VIP series set-tops can be integrated with middleware from any provider. This means that service providers like Sentivision can offer a suite of advanced applications to their users that best serve the needs of the local market. For this service deployment, Sentivision will port its advanced middleware suite to the Motorola set-top platform.

    Motorola provides a robust IPTV platform that brings high-definition TV (HDTV), video-on-demand (VOD), digital video recording (DVR), multi-room streaming, and other connected home applications into subscribers’ homes.

    “Our middleware integration was made simple by using Motorola’s leading digital IP video platform. The open nature of the platform and the expertise brought together by combining Sentivision and Motorola is sure to result in a robust video offering to customers,” said Sentivision CEO Yochi Akase.

    “Motorola IPTV solution combined with Sentivision middleware will bring some of the most advanced video services available into the homes of Japanese customers. We are proud to add Sentivision to our IPTV ecosystem. Together, we can create a unique video entertainment service delivered through one of the most advanced digital set-top platforms available,” said Motorola corporate vice president and Connected Home Solutions general manager Doug Means.

    The Motorola VIP1200 series of IP-based set-tops gives service providers an advanced and flexible platform for delivering next-generation video content and services. Designed to meet operators’ evolving business needs and consumers’ desire for television choice, these set-tops leverage Motorola’s decades of experience in video delivery and the company’s proven expertise in emerging standards and new network architectures. The Motorola VIP1200 series supports industry-leading video codecs, digital rights management (DRM) solutions, and software from multiple middleware vendors.

    The VIP1200J series includes the following set-top models with connectors and options specifically for the Japanese market:

    VIP1200Japan, Single TV High Definition IP set-top
    VIP1216Japan, Single TV High Definition IP set-top with integrated hard disk drive (HDD) for digital video recording (DVR)

  • Motorola introduces new local content distribution system for TV

    Motorola introduces new local content distribution system for TV

    MUMBAI: Motorola, Inc. has introduced a new content distribution system that allows programmers to customise national video feeds for local audiences by inserting content at affiliate sites. The new Motorola On-Target gives programmers a new way to address different market segments by adding local information into a national broadcast.With the new Motorola On-Target system, programmers can pre-position regionalised content such as advertisements, and seamlessly insert that content during a selected local available time slot, giving viewers a customized message that is relevant to their regional area.

    The new On-Target system was demonstrated at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) tradeshow.

    The system consists of two components: An uplink management component to ingest, manage, create schedule, and distribute content, and a new downlink Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) to receive, store and insert customized content into the national feed on a pre-scheduled or real-time basis.

    The new Motorola Integrated Server Receiver (ISR) 4410 is an IRD with a internal 200GB hard drive. The hard drive can receive and store MPEG2 video clips, graphics and text that can be used to insert customized spots into a video feed received from a satellite uplink location. Graphics and text can be animated and composited with stored or live content, with content seamlessly switched between the live and stored feeds.

    The Motorola On-Target Control System is an open-source based server that manages content distribution, including a file queue that can send content to all Motorola ISR 4410s, a subset of the ISRs in a system, or a single device. The system also includes automated remote backup of ISR hard devices.

    In addition, the system includes an authoring station where editors can create timelines, playlists with graphics and/or text, and preview any sequence prior to distribution. The web-based application can be located at an affiliate site so that local content can be created and uploaded to the On- Target Control System for eventual playout to headend-resident ISR4410s.

    “The Motorola On-Target system delivers a complete end-to-end system for customising programmers’ national feeds at the local level and providing the facilities for value-added services. With the advent of the On-Target system, we are continuing our commitment to provide programmers with innovative solutions to leverage their investments in Motorola digital content delivery networks,” said Motorola corporate vice president and Connected Home Solutions general manager Doug Means.

  • Motorola makes TV shows available from DVR to mobile phone

    Motorola makes TV shows available from DVR to mobile phone

    MUMBAI: Expanding on the Follow Me TV experience of room-to-room media sharing, Motorola, Inc. will demonstrate a new technology that can move recorded shows from a Motorola digital video recorder (DVR) set-top directly to a Motorola mobile device like the next-generation RAZR V3x.

    This new ability to move content can expand Motorola’s existing whole-home video platform to meet the video needs of consumers anywhere and everywhere.

    A live demonstration of this new feature will be on display at both the CTIA Wireless 2006 and the 2006 National Show. The explosion of digital video technologies in recent years is leading the demand for ever-greater control over TV at home and on the go.

    Starting with a Motorola set-top, consumers can now create a multimedia network that sends content not only to other rooms in the home, but to mobile devices with storage-card capacity. In addition, Motorola mobile devices can be used to program a Motorola DVR remotely. No more worries about forgetting to record your favorite show – control your television wherever you are.

    “By combining the reliability and clarity of Motorola video products with the style of Motorola cell phones, we can deliver a truly personalized television experience. Consumers get the chance to enjoy seamless, mobile entertainment, and service providers get the opportunity to extend their reach beyond the home,” said Motorola corporate vice president and general manager of digital video solutions John Burke.

    The full Follow Me TV experience is enabled by Motorola DVR set-tops and the company’s OCAP software solution. This software solution includes powerful tools designed to offer home media networking using the Multimedia over Cable Alliance (MoCA) standard.

  • MTV Networks Asia & Motorola to launch digital entertainment platform ‘Mobbed’

    MTV Networks Asia & Motorola to launch digital entertainment platform ‘Mobbed’

    MUMBAI: MTV Networks Asia in collaboration with Motorola, a company involved in wireless and broadband communications, is set to launch a digital entertainment platform ‘Mobbed’.

    Targeting the youth, `Mobbed’ will be available on mobile, on-air and online from tomorrow (1 April). The entertainment platform will be available to Asia-Pacific youths spanning across seven countries – India, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

    At a recent Ficci Frames in Mumbai, Viacom CEO Tom Freston said the company would be ramping up its digital media initiatives.

    Mobbed is the first-ever digitally focused integrated platform MTV Networks Asia has embarked on, the company said in a release. It will feature everything from free downloads to opportunities to control the storylines of ongoing animated segments.

    The various mobbed icons features include Motoalert, Mob Squad, Mobtage, besides contest, games and blogs.

    Mobbed, the on-air show, will be fronted by local MTV VJs. In India, MTV VJ Nauheed will be fronting the show.

    In Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines, MTV VJ Max, a new member of the MTV VJ family, will host the programme .MTV VJ Nathan (Australia), MTV VJ Cathy (Indonesia) and MTV VJ Tye (Thailand) will provide audience with the latest Mobbed updates weekly on the respective channels.

    Motoalert will not only provide Mobbers with the latest news, gossips, downloads and activities, but also focus on a new artist each month, allowing the Mobbers with “full-access” and knowledge of this act.

    “Mobbed reinforces MTV’s commitment to connect with our audience on every platform possible. Not only do we create fun and cool branded content that can be downloaded easily at the click of a button, such as the Mob Squad mobile animated series, but we also allow for user-generated content so youth can express themselves and take over MTV via the cutting-edge MMS to TV platform – Mobtage,” commented MTV Networks Asia Pacific president Nigel Robbins. “This expanded development is testimony to the success we have enjoyed with Motorola. With Motorola’s technology and personalization intelligence and MTV’s widespread influence on youth, Mobbed will empower Asian youth to further interact in the wireless world.”

    We are extremely excited about the Mobbed property and our relationship with MTV Networks Asia. MTV helps Motorola to re-energize our brand image and gain greater resonance with our youth mobile users,” commented Neil Stewart, Marketing Director of Motorola Mobile Devices Business, High Growth Markets. “With the launch of Mobbed by MTV and Motorola, we will be providing an even more creative and innovative platform for youth to get branded entertainment via their mobile screens,” he added.

  • MTV multi-platform debut in Canada from 21 March

    MTV multi-platform debut in Canada from 21 March

    MUMBAI: It’s a historic day not just for Canadian audiences, but for Canada’s creative and production communities too. The MTV brand debuts today in Canada. The Toronto based CTV will replace the name of its talktv speciality channel with the MTV brand.

    The MTV launch represents the biggest multi-platform launch among all 49 worldwide MTV services comprising the MTV Networks International family, according to MTV Networks International president and MTV Networks vice chairman Bill Roedy.

    The MTV brand will debut in 360 degree fashion, across six different platforms. The ‘Six Arms of MTV’ will incorporate numerous distribution strategies including conventional and specialty channel platforms, mobile, Video On Demand (VOD) and in pioneering fashion, across a newly created premium broadband service, MTV Overdrive, the first of its kind in Canada.

    MTV is a newly branded Canadian analog specialty service and offers a winning schedule, infused with lifestyle, talk and documentary programming.

    In an official statement, the networks claims that the channel will immediately be available in 6 million Canadian households via all major cable and DTH services.

    Newly created MTVonCTV branded blocks of programming will be seen six nights a week across Canada on CTV’s conventional stations.

    MTV Overdrive is a new broadband channel that represents a
    first-of-its-kind in Canada. The free premium video service harnesses the latest in technology to deliver MTV content to anyone at broadband speeds. On demand are full-length MTV programs, daily MTV News, custom short-form programming, movie and game reviews and much more. In addition to providing MTV-branded content, Overdrive is MTV’s answer to music authenticity in Canada with exclusive MTV music events, artist interviews, live performances and thousands of music videos.

    On Mobile will have exclusively produced MTV mobisodes and made for mobile programming by individual carriers and also via cross-carrier mobile distribution, MTV Mobile showcases a range of MTV programs that include video, soundtrack ring-tones, wallpapers and more, all available for download via mobile phones and directly off the mtv.ca website.

    Video on Demand comes with an extensive line-up of MTV hit programs immediately available. In addition, MTV is now underway with plans for an additional distribution strategy to make MTV’s hit programs available to portable video devices.

    “A new chapter in Canadian media, employing multiple platforms and
    interactivity, begins. The future is now,” said Bell Globemedia president and CEO and CTV Inc CEO Ivan Fecan.

    “It’s a landmark day for Canada’s creative community and viewers from coast-to-coast. A culturally vibrant country like ours deserves its own MTV. Sharing Canada’s creative talent with the world through MTV’s worldwide network puts Canada on the world stage. It’s where we belong,” said CTV programming president Susanne
    Boyce.

    MTV, in the official statement revealed an extensive list of 23 advertising partners who have inked multi-platform sponsorship deals to be on-board for day one. They include Bell Mobility, Cadbury Adams, Clean & Clear and Neutrogena Deep Clean, Coca Cola, Colgate Palmolive Canada Inc., Columbia Brewery, Dairy Farmers of Canada Milk, General Motors of Canada, KFC Canada, Kraft Canada, Labatt Breweries of Canada, McDonalds Restaurants of Canada Limited, Mission: Impossible III, Molson Canadian, Motorola, Nike, Nokia Products Limited, Pepsico, Sony Entertainment – the Benchwarmers, Taco Bell, Telus and West 49.

    MTV’s multiplatform advertising opportunities will allow clients’ brands to reach millions of consumers via an array of on-air and digital assets,
    including the broadband service MTV Overdrive.

    “The incredible response from clients and the agency community is confirmation that we are on target with the brand, our content and the distribution strategy,” said MTV Canada sr VP and general manager Brad Schwartz. “We want to acknowledge all 23 partners who have joined the MTV business from day One. Our goal is to make MTV the preferred destination for advertisers, large and small, and we look forward to growing together with all of our partners.”