BT signed only 14,000 subscribers to its hybrid DTT/IPTV service, BT Vision, during the second quarter of this year, giving a total of just 481,000 paying customers.

TV sets with inbuilt internet access are quickly gaining popularity in Germany: A total of 1.2 million hybrid-TV sets have been sold since the first models became available in retail stores in March 2009, reports German industry association BITKOM with reference to GfK market figures.

The transition to digital is well underway in the United Kingdom. Unlike the U.S. switchover that occurred nationally on June 12 last year, the U. K. transition is being done on an area-by-area basis. It began in 2008 and will wrap up at the Crystal Palace tower near London in 2012, the same year London will be hosting the summer Olympics.

ANT plc (LSE AIM: ANTP), the leading provider of software and services for the delivery of digital TV, today announced that digital STB (set-top box) specialist Topfield (KOSDAQ: 057880) has selected the ANT Galio HbbTV Platform for its latest range of set-top boxes. The new devices will be capable of delivering HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) services and will be available in the German retail market in 2010, with France to follow in 2011.

UK cable operator Virgin Media’s new web and mobile VOD service will offer premium archive material, rather than the latest catch-up shows, because broadcasters already offer own-brand catch-up services, Virgin Media’s TV and online executive director Alex Green tells paidContent:UK.

UK satcaster BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) CEO Jeremy Darroch channeled much the same belief in paid content as its its largest shareholder News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). while discussing healthy growth from the last financial year with investment analysts Thursday morning…

The new CEO of ITV has admitted that the UK broadcaster lags behind its rivals in technology and has hired a former BBC and BSkyB exec to address the issue.

International research firm Parks Associates reports a modest increase in awareness of 3DTV among U.S. broadband households in 2010, but the mainstream viability of 3D depends on availability of premium video content and not one-off events such as the World Cup.

Virgin Media today confirmed the beta launch of its first online and mobile TV player: Virgin Media Player.

Barcelona-based video streaming startup Flumotion is celebrating the world’s first WebM live stream this week with a live feed from the GUADEC conference in The Hague. The conference, dedicated to the open source GNOME desktop, is a fitting coming-out for the codec, which was open sourced at Google’s I/O developers conference in May, and it seems to generate some significant interest: Early reports mention more than 100 concurrent viewers.

BSkyB has confirmed that Europe’s first 3D channel will make its consumer debut on Friday October 1. Transmitted in the side by side format, Sky 3D will offer viewers a line-up of sport, movies, entertainment and the arts.

Growth of Australian regional pay-TV platform Austar’s next-generation PVR service, MyStar, shows no sign of slowing, with additions for the last three months up just over 15,000 to reach 159,550 at end-June.

Thank you to Richard who sent me a note asking me to check out MifiClub, a service that will send you a MiFi next-day in the United Kingdom.

Rumors that Apple is cooperating with TiVo on the next generation of its Apple TV device caused TiVo’s shares to spike earlier this week, going up as high as $9.24, only to fall back down to $8.51 in after-hours trading today. The rumors were prominently picked up by the Barron’s blog Tech Trader Daily, but short on details, and there’s a lot to be skeptical about:

3-D TV may be the most-hyped consumer electronics trend of 2010, but it’s not actually where the money is: That’s the gist of a new report from iSuppli, which estimates that only around 4.2 million 3-D TV sets will ship worldwide this year. Internet-enabled TV sets, on the other hand, will ship at a rate of 27.7 million this year, representing 124.9 percent growth.

Dominic Rushe from the Daily Mail has suggested today that TV as we know it won’t be the same after Google and Microsoft are done with it.

Cable giant Virgin Media UK has reported its latest second quarter 2010 results, revealing that its broadband ISP subscriber base has grown from 4,179,700 in Q1 to 4,207,800 in Q2 of this year. The figure suggest that VM has had a poor quarter with consumer additions of only +28,100; significantly down on Q1's +76,200.

A recently announced Google’s Android-based TV platform is a few months away from releasing. Google TV blends television with Internet capabilities and will be supported not only in the already announced Logitech Revue. Antik Technology plans to bring the features of Google TV to the owners of its Juice set-top boxes.

Of all DTT standards in the world, the European DVB is the cheapest for the users, according to the former president of Spain's Impulsa TDT, Eladio Gutiérrez.

KPN sees the end customer’s need for functionality such as triple-play services, including, HD TV, as the main driver of its network strategy following mixed half-yearly results.

I was recently reading a lighting periodical when I came across a lighting-instrument manufacturer's claim that stopped me cold. A very popular and useful LED fixture was being touted as "HD friendly."

Dutch telco KPN says both its subscriber base and marketshare is continuing to grow rapidly following a shift in emphasis from its terrestrial Digitenne service towards IPTV. It follows a network upgrade to VDSL and a national marketing campaign for its ‘Interactive TV’ service.

Cambridge-based set-top box developer Amino Communications has again brought down losses after a 41.7% increase in revenues.

Home gateway manufacturer 2Wire was tentatively acquired this week by U.K.-based set-top box specialist Pace in a $475 million deal that should close before the end of the year. 2Wire CTO Jaime Fink took time to talk with FierceIPTV about what the deal means to the company in the near- and long-term, and about how changing market conditions and consumer expectations helped bring the two companies together.

New data released by UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has found that a gap still persists between the advertised speeds for broadband services and what speeds users are typically receiving.

It seems that the government has turned its attention to the folks who have taken to watching TV on their computer to avoid paying for a TV licence.

Middleware and conditional access specialist Latens is turning its attention to the concept of TV Everywhere. Its new ECO UI 5 Middleware comes pre-integrated with conditional access for multiple devices including the Apple iPad, where Latens’ software-based CA comes into its own.

Pace widens US reach into telco market through proposed acquisition of 2Wire, Inc.

Dutch telecoms operator Tele 2 will this Tuesday start marketing its Open Cable product with prices starting at €5 a month representing a savings of up to 70%.

Virgin Media are set to offer a service that would allow users to pause video content on one device and pick up from where they left off on another with "pause and resume" functionality according to Broadcast.

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) have warned ISPs that the remaining capacity of IPv4 IP Addresses will be exhausted worldwide within about 12 months with only 230 million addresses still available for new connections, making up just 6% of the overall 4.3 billion addresses in the system.

Ready for this week’s Five Questions With..? Boy, I hope so, because you’re reading it now. Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback’s been slaving away in the digital space for over 20 years, with a resume that includes stuff like Lab Director at PC Week and Editor-In-Chief of PC Magazine. Today, he adds a new word to our database of Buzzwords People Hate, defends Annoying Orange and addresses whether or not Rev3 will ever reach out to demographics beyond the 18-34-year-old male.

Oh Canada, you have all the luck; not. First you have to wait years and years after Netflix streaming comes to the states and now that you've finally got it coming, your biggest ISP drops its Lite service bandwidth caps from 25GB to 15GB

No. British satellite broadcaster Sky will be launching a full 3D TV service this autumn – but existing subscribers to its Sky HD service won't need to replace their Sky HD boxes to take advantage of the new broadcasts.

So it seems that founding and operating a broadcast mobile TV business is no mean feat: as mocoNews points out, there is spectrum to be purchased and transmission towers to be networked — all before you can sell electronics manufacturers on carrying your chipset in their devices.

Earlier today I reported on the unlikelihood that the next Batman movie will be in 3D. But is that a fluke or part of a trend? If box office numbers are any indication, it's definitely the latter.

OK, we know that HP is working on a tablet computer running the Palm WebOS operating system. So what’s up with that HP Slate 500 tablet that was spotted on the HP web site yesterday? You know, the one running Windows 7? Didn’t HP kill off its Windows 7 tablet plans months ago?

MSI has launched a new version of its Wind U230 thin and light notebook. The original U230 had a 12.1 inch display, but the new MSI Wind U230 Light has a slightly smaller 11.6 inch display.

The Strong Group has licensed the Thomson brand for its range of high-end free-to-air set-top boxes sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Project Canvas has confirmed the appointment of Kip Meek as the internet-connected TV project’s non-executive chairman.

ST’s net revenues for the second quarter of 2010 totaled $2,531 million and included sales recorded by ST-Ericsson as consolidated by ST. Net revenues increased 8.9% sequentially, mainly reflecting ACCI and IMS product segments registering better than seasonal sequential revenue growth trends while the Company’s Wireless segment decreased by 10.5%.

DK-Technologies is using the IBC 2010 platform (Stand 8:E60) to introduce a number of new innovations to its range of audio and video metering and monitoring products.

Qualcomm aren’t happy with their Mobile TV unit, FLO TV.

It would seem we’re a step closer to the digital video utopia promised by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), as the consortium has unveiled its new consumer brand dubbed UltraViolet, while announcing that LG Electronics, LOVEFiLM and Marvell Semiconductor have joined up with the group.

The Digital TV Group has ruled out the possibility of a coming together between the UK Connected TV specifications and those of the Franco-German HbbTV. However, the organisation made clear it was committed to international harmonisation and is fully engaged with international standards bodies and have reciprocal agreements with them.

r….Why I live in t'middle of nowhere. I know it has confused some of you city types for nigh on 15 years why anyone would live where I do, but you are about to get the chance to understand. And, on top of the unmissable 2010 broadband conference, you have a chance to enjoy our rural, Northern hospitality at its best.

3D will probably only impact the industry in small dimensions

It’s a “which comes first” situation: Viewers might watch 3-D if there were 3-D channels being transmitted; broadcasters might air 3-D channels if viewers watched them. Regardless, one of the first steps for any broadcaster wanting to trial a 3-D channel is to find a facility that offers 3-D playout services.

Humax is to unveil a new range of portal services for its range of internet-enabled set-top boxes.

A newer technology with a strong following, connected TVs are quickly becoming a major market force. Sets that feature internet connectivity and support Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) capability make up 55% of the available models across Japan, China, India, Europe and North America.

The UK Internet Service Providers Association ( ISPA ) has today revealed its Roadmap for the Internet, which includes eight recommendations to Government on how it sees the net developing over the life of the current parliament to 2015.

And lo, it came to pass. Sky has announced it will sell Easynet to private equity house Lloyds Development Capital, which will back its current management.

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, a consortium of 60 video content, distribution and DRM companies including Sony, Time Warner, News Corporation, NBC Universal, Paramount, Comcast and Cox, has announced Ultraviolet, the new brand name for DECE's initiative. Today, consumers have to deal with a thicket of different DRM schemes; content that works on one device might not work on another one, and their rights for using the same content on multiple devices can differ dramatically. Ultraviolet's goal is to smooth over the differences, so that consumers have uniform rules for how they can access and use content on multiple devices.

For the past three years, our little guide to eating out in Amsterdam has proved to be a very popular feature of the Broadband TV News IBC Special. So this year it is time for an encore appearance. Be sure to come back again, as we will add a few more reviews in the days leading up to IBC 2010.

Humax is to unveil a new range of portal services for its range of internet-enabled set-top boxes.

Updated: Major road works are still taking place at the Amsterdam RAI during IBC due to the construction of a new subway line. Just before summer, work on the line was resumed after being halted due to some serious problems with buildings in the old city.

More than 45 million connected HDTVs, or about 20% of all flat-panel screens, will be shipped this year, with that number ballooning to 42%, or 119 million, by 2014, according to a quarterly report from DisplaySearch.

Sky are said to be considering the sale of Easynet, the business ISP who they bought for £211m in 2005 in order to use their LLU infrastructure to get them a foothold in the residential broadband market.

Some two years ago a number of industry players came together to create a DRM stadard that they hoped would take on Apple's iTunes and the pirating which has been decimating the content industry.

At the recent Freesat awards ceremony in London, the US based set top box maker, EchoStar, let it be known that it was looking at the free to view satellite digital TV provider Freesat as a future partner.

It has been a long time coming but finally Motorola has decided in which direction the company will be moving and its master plan of dividing the company into two is becoming more of a reality.

RealID, the company behind the technology used to make the hit film Avatar in 3D, has raised around $200 million through an initial public offering (IPO) which is around 33 per cent higher than initially thought.

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers — as part an increased focus on Internet Protocol networking — has tapped broadband expert Daniel Howard to be the association's first chief technology officer.

We thought today would be rather timely to post an update about our fibre trials. Today saw the first customer in the UK to go live on BT’s Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) trial and he’s a Plusnet customer!

It’s good news for Microsoft on the console front when it comes to the launch of the company’s new slim version of the Xbox 360.

A new report from IMS Research has revealed the robustness of the set-top box (STB) market, which when including DVRs, broke the 200 million barrier in 2009.

The report, "The World Market for Digital Set-top Boxes & iDTVs – 2010 Edition', found that uptake was driven by the fact that nearly 50 million TV households adopted free-to-air (FTA) and pay-digital services.

To take advantage of what looks likely to be a spike in HD demand, one of Sky's technology suppliers has unveiled low-power devices capable of supporting the rich TV services.

In releasing details of the new boxes it has produced for its primary customer, Dublin-based S3 has revealed that Sky's new boxes have been designed to support future services launching in 2010 such as broadband-enabled video-on-demand and 3DTV.

Video-on-Demand (VoD) service provider On Demand Deutschland (ODD) has created a digital video library portal for German set-top-box manufacturer VideoWeb: HD Kino offers the owners of the hybrid satellite receiver VideoWeb 600S the possibility to watch streamed movies via the internet both in standard and high-definition quality (HDTV) on their conventional TV set.

Boxee, which last month announced a delay in bringing its set-top box-the Boxee Box–to market until the fourth quarter (hopefully November in time for the holiday shopping season), has done a turnaround and now says the box is going to land a little sooner than that. It originally was set for a June rollout.

Boxee, the firm that uses its own media centre to provide internet users with free downloadable software which allows them to view TV and video on the internet, is preparing to launch its own branded set-top box.

S3 Group (formerly Silicon & Software Systems) today announced that it has collaborated with BSkyB (Sky) [LSE:BSY] on the development of its latest high-definition (HD), low-power set-top boxes (STBs), the DRX890 and the DRX895. These boxes include highly integrated and advanced STB technology from Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM). Both boxes boast enhanced features, increased storage capacity and energy saving capabilities. And as with Sky’s existing Sky+HD STBs, the boxes have also been designed to support future services launching in 2010 such as broadband-enabled video-on-demand and 3DTV.

The global set top box market grew to over two hundred million units last year.

It looks like Freesat have re-opened the debate on offering a Pay-TV option on the ‘free’ satellite platform, following high level discussions to consider allowing access to premium channels such as Sky Sports 1 and 2.