SBC, Microsoft in $400 mn IP-based TV deal
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NEW YORK, November 17  - SBC Communications Inc (SBC.NYS) announced an agreement with Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) today, under which the US-based telecom giant will provider IP-based TV services based on Microsoft&#39;s IP television
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SBC Communications Inc. has agreed to acquire AT&amp;T Corp. in a &#36;16 billion deal that would create the nation's largest communications company, the companies said early Monday.
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NEW YORK: SBC Communications, the No. 2 US telecoms company, has agreed to pay US$400mil to Microsoft Corp for software that can deliver television via high-speed data lines, the New York Times reported yesterday.
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SBC Communications SBC.N will pay Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O at least $400 million over 10 years for technology to help SBC sell video services over its upgraded broadband lines, the companies said Wednesday.
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SBC Communications Inc.  plans to launch television over the Internet with new compression technology, turning the table on cable companies encroaching on its phone business, the company's chief operating officer said on Thursday.
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SBC Communications has agreed to pay more than &#36;1 million for the naming rights to the Ohio State-Michigan game for the next two years.
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Daum Communications Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Celrun Co. said Tuesday they were setting up a joint venture to offer Internet protocol television services in South Korea.
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A company with offices in Palo Alto and Seoul called Thin Multimedia Inc. demonstrated a possibly disruptive concept: a kind of embedded IPTV that could endow handsets with the capacity and functionality of living-room set-top boxes.  The fact that Korean telecom giants are investing billions of won in mobile IPTV in areas where DVB-H is already popular, is indication that there could be a real spoiler in the midst for portable digital television.
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(InfoWorld) - There could be some competition in the market for Internet-based television technology after all. The hope of MicrosoftÂ to establish its software as the de factoÂ standard for the emerging IPTVÂ (Internet Protocol television) market has dwindled after one of its major allies, the former Alcatel, decided to push its own technology -- again -- and as other industry giants, including Cisco Systems, enter the fray. Alcatel, which made the first U-turn in its IPTV strategy in May 2005 when the French manufacturer decided to align with Microsoft, is now in the process of making yet another. In November, AlcatelÂ filed lawsuits against MicrosoftÂ for several alleged patent infringements, including three related to IPTV. Since then, the French manufacturer hasÂ merged with Lucent Technologies, another player in the IPTV market. And now the newly merged Alcatel-LucentÂ is talking about its own technology again. Why? Maybe because the French-U.S. telecom giant believes it now has enough technology -- and clout -- to carve out its own chunk of what could be a huge market for IPTV systems and services. "Today, video accounts for only around 5 percent of the traffic on IP networks," John Giere, chief marketing officer at Alcatel-Lucent, said in an interview at last week's Telecom World conference and exhibition in Hong Kong. "But according to research conducted by our own Bell Labs, that figure could reach 40 percent by 2010." Alcatel-Lucent, which delivers not only core IP technology to manage video but also software to enable video services, such as IPTV, video mail and video conferencing, says it focuses on open standards, which it sees as a key differentiator to Microsoft. "Our technology is open with open interfaces," Giere said. "Many operators don't want to be overly dependent on Microsoft, which offers a proprietary system." Alcatel-Lucent is developing open APIs (application protocol interfaces), Giere said. "The idea is to have Java-based client software that you can enable across multiple devices." The company is working with several standards bodies to help establish standards for IPTV-related technology, according to Giere. It has also developed personalization features, allowing users, for instance, to upload their own videos to the network and create their own personal TV channel. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to improve its IPTV software platform and sign up carriers for field trials and, increasingly, commercial services. And, at least for now, the company isn't calling Alcatel-Lucent a competitor. Last week, Singapore TelecommunicationsÂ (SingTel) became the 16th company to agree to use Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software through a deal orchestrated by Alcatel-Lucent. "When we came to the IPTV market, we decided to take a slightly different approach," said Ed Graczyk, director of marketing in the Microsoft TV unit. "Our platform was developed with direct input from carriers that had joined our early adopter program. Some of the features in our platform resulted from the unique requirements of these carriers." If the first wave of technology developed in the Microsoft IPTV platform aimed at creating "a better user experience for viewing TV," the second wave will focus on adding enhancements, such as rapid search functionality for both TV and VOD (video on demand) content and personalization, according to Graczyk. "User-generated content is a big issue," he said. A big development along the way has been the move by chip makers to embed simultaneous multi-stream, multi-codec video decoding functionality into a chip, a functionality that was previously handled by software, according to Graczyk. "This system-on-chip approach will help substantially reduce costs," he said. Not only that, system-on-chip technology could help Microsoft embed its IPTV software into all types of devices, including PCs and gaming devices, so that consumers wouldn't necessarily have to buy a set-top box, according to Graczyk. "Carriers choose us because they know that we will be able to connect all types of devices running on our operating systems," he said. And what if the carrier is a big fan of the open source Linux operating system? "I don't think you'll see our IPTV software running on Linux systems," he said. "But you'll see IPTV software running on other systems." A growing number of competitors hope to achieve just that. In addition to Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, IBM, and Siemens are a few of the big names seeking to carve out a slice of the budding market for IPTV services. Â
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SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Akimbo Systems Inc., a startup that plans to deliver video over the Internet to television sets, has signed a deal for mainstream content from Time Warner Inc.
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The software maker creates a single business unit to handle its IP television, Media Center PC and HD-DVD efforts.
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SBC is teaming up with Microsoft to provide consumers with a new way to view television -- a move that puts it in direct competition with the cable TV industry.
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NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA  - SBC Communications Inc.  said Monday it will buy AT&T Corp. for about $16 billion,  aiming to bolster its services for large corporations and end  "Ma Bell's" independence.
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SBC Communications Inc. on Monday announced it would offer customers wireless high-speed Internet access for $1.99 a month if they also purchased a DSL service the company delivers in partnership with Yahoo!
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The BBC signs an agreement with Microsoft to explore ways of developing its digital services.
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SBC Communications Inc. has agreed to acquire AT&T Corp. in a $16 billion deal that would create the nation's largest communications company, the companies said early Monday.
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For SBC Communications, Wednesday's deal with Microsoft for software to deliver television programming to homes over high-speed lines is the latest broadside in the company's battle to compete with cable companies.