• Verizon adds more HD to Fort Wayne, Ind.
By Mike Robuck
Verizon said today that it has added 68 new channels, including 53 in HD, to its footprint in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area.
With the new additions, Verizon’s subscribers in the Fort Wayne area now have access to a total of 98 HD channels, 800 HD choices and 700 HD VOD titles each month. Verizon said its FiOS fiber-optic service is offered to more than 120,000 customers in Allen County, including parts of Fort Wayne, Huntertown and New Haven.
Verizon is offering a year’s free use of either an HD DVR or an HD home media DVR to customers who sign up for its video services between today and Oct. 31. Verizon is also giving new customers, or existing customers who sign up for a bundled package, one free month of HBO and Cinemax.
• Verizon’s high-speed Internet service expands in Mass.
By Traci Patterson
Consumers and businesses in Leverett, Pelham and Windsor, Mass., now have access to Verizon’s high-speed Internet service.
Leverett, Pelham and Windsor are the latest of 24 western Massachusetts communities where Verizon is bringing the service. Previously, these communities did not have access to broadband service, according to Verizon.
The service will give Internet users the ability to download at speeds of 768 Kbps. By year’s end, Verizon expects to make the service available in Heath, Leyden and Westhampton, and to make the service more widely available in Shutesbury.
• Moto’s on-demand solution chosen by StarHub
By Traci Patterson
Motorola’s on-demand solution has been selected by StarHub, a pay-TV operator in Singapore, to enable Demand TV – StarHub’s new suite of on-demand services that includes both video-on-demand (VOD) and on-demand channels.Motorola’s on-demand solution will power the delivery of VOD content to more than 500,000 households in Singapore that subscribe to StarHub’s pay-TV services.
Motorola provided an end-to-end VOD delivery solution based on the Motorola B-1 Video Server. And Motorola worked with eventIS to integrate its VOD backoffice system.
• McCargo joins Cisco’s community relations team
By Traci Patterson
Bill McCargo has joined Cisco’s community relations team after nine years of overseeing Scientific Atlanta’s community relations program and administering the Scientific Atlanta Foundation.
In his new role, McCargo will lead coordination of Cisco’s community relations strategy, with initial efforts to be focused on five United States sites, including Atlanta and Texas, and with subsequent focus on targeted international sites, including India and China.
“As we continue the integration of the former Scientific Atlanta team into the Cisco organization, we will rely on [McCargo] to help us attain the Cisco community relations goal to be a strategic business partner and aggregator for community issues, bringing civic leaders, business leaders and subject matter experts together to discuss opportunities and topics of local importance,” said Terry Anderson, vice president of corporate communications and community relations.
• MediaMelon intros VON
By Traci Patterson
MediaMelon has introduced its Video Overlay Network (VON), an application-layer, software-enabled network that integrates several edge technologies, including progressive downloading and adaptive streaming, to improve the efficiency and quality of online video.
MediaMelon’s Dynamic Content Assembly technology sources content from multiple locations, and in real-time assembles the content for viewing – even on a slow network. And the company’s new Predictive Forward Caching technology allows portions of videos to be pre-cached based on a variety of parameters, helping publishers reduce costs and improve viewing quality for their users, the company said.
MediaMelon’s technology has been integrated with content management systems such as thePlatform. Publishers using thePlatform can access the MediaMelon network technology within their media publishing systems. MediaMelon has also partnered with advertising platforms, such as Adap.TV and Panache, to provide video publishers with instant monetization options.
More Broadband Direct:
• AT&T rolls out whole-home DVR service in 7 more areas
• Cisco trims Broadband Telephony unit
• Abdoulah joins American Cable Association’s board
• Trilithic’s Harris promoted to VP of marketing
• Brightcove debuts platform for online video
• Quantenna debuts chips for next-gen Wi-Fi
