• Verizon’s FiOS TV service headed to nation’s capital
By Mike Robuck
On Monday night, District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty signed off on granting a city-wide franchise agreement for Verizon’s FiOS video service.
Under the terms of the 15-year agreement, Verizon will make its fiber-optic based video service available throughout the District over the next nine years, with the service going live for the first subscribers within one year.
William R. Roberts, Verizon’s regional president for Maryland and Washington, D.C., said a 30-day congressional review will be the final step in the franchise agreement process.
• Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic selects Imake for VOD
By Traci Patterson
Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has chosen Imake for the network’s video-on-demand (VOD) content creation technology. With the newest version of Imake’s OpenVision Content Creator, Comcast SportsNet is able to capture content from a variety of sources, including DVDs, tapes, real-time streaming IP and Leitch broadcast equipment.
The local encoding, automated metadata workflows and scheduling capabilities provided by Imake’s technology get content to Comcast SportsNet customers more quickly, while the integrated editor enables Comcast SportsNet to deliver long-form content for VOD and short-form for online.
Other features of the new OpenVision Content Creator v4.5 focus on operational convenience. The remote editor/viewer workstation allows the user to quickly acquire and edit content with the latest native MPEG-2/H.264 CableLabs-compliant editing tools, Imake said. And live viewing of streaming content with manual start and stop has also been developed for content like sporting and news events that require more involvement.
More Broadband Direct:
• No bucks for broadband in stimulus bill
• Cox Business: Move to Ethernet services to save money
• Cablevision hires Merrill Lynch exec
• Charter modifies bonus program for execs
• Dish, EchoStar, TiVo still tied up with patent
• BigBand Networks tunes up BMR for digital transition
• Fujitsu beefs up lab to support LTE
• Yahoo picks tough-talking Carol Bartz as new CEO
• Blockbuster downloads CinemaNow for video delivery
• Broadband Briefs for 01/14/09
