• MetroCast will rebuild with Moto’s RFoG
By Brian Santo
MetroCast Communications intends to deploy Motorola’s RF over glass solution for several rebuilds in Virginia. MetroCast’s upgrade from coaxial networks to fiber-to-the-home will support new digital and high-definition channels, video-on-demand services, voice services and tiered broadband services.
“Evolving our network simply and economically is important to us. Deploying Motorola’s RFoG solution helps us meet customer demand for new and improved entertainment and broadband services while laying the groundwork for the future,” said Bill Lee, vice president of engineering at MetroCast.
“As demand grows for enhanced video, voice and data services, cable providers of all sizes are considering the option of all-fiber for service delivery,” said Kevin Keefe, vice president of marketing and product management for access network solutions at Motorola Home and Networks Mobility. “Motorola’s end-to-end RFoG solution is a first step in the evolution to passive optical networking, and it provides investment protection by using key elements of existing cable infrastructure, as well as set-tops and modems already in consumer homes.”
• AT&T launches U-verse services in Southeast
By CED staff
AT&T has launched its suite of U-verse services – U-verse TV, U-verse high-speed Internet and U-verse Voice – in parts of the Knoxville, Tenn., area.
AT&T has also launched U-verse Voice in parts of Columbia, S.C., and Charlotte, N.C.
The voice service is available to all eligible U-verse TV customers in the Columbia and Charlotte areas.
• Providers can package Web content with Clearleap system
By Brian Santo
Clearleap is introducing a customizable content management system designed to provide quick and easy acquisition and aggregation of local, traditional and Web video content.
Content Marketplace includes best-of-the-Web video that is vetted, scouted, licensed and pre-packaged by genre. Cable and IPTV operators can deploy an entire genre of programming, Clearleap claims, with one-click acquisition.
Web-based features include the ability to preview content within the publishing and management platform, and dynamic adjustment of settings to ensure the content ingest is aligned with performance of a particular package. This allows service providers to customize their content offerings by city, system or neighborhood as frequently as they want.
Clearleap will offer packaged content in 10 of the highest-performing genres of programming – including comedy, pop culture, music, sports, science and nature, lifestyle and best of the Web – with plans to expand into categories such as instructional, travel and cooking in the coming weeks.
• Netflix movie streaming coming to PlayStation 3
By Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – PlayStation 3 owners will soon be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix to their TVs using the gaming console, just as Xbox 360 owners have been able to do for a year.
Sony Corp. and the DVD rental company plan to launch it next month. It will be available for free to PlayStation 3 owners who have a Netflix subscription that starts at $9.
Netflix streaming is already available on a broad range of devices, such as the Roku digital video player, Internet-connected TV sets (including Sony’s) and Blu-ray players – and the PlayStation 3’s archrival, Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360. On the Xbox, however, the Netflix streaming is available only to Xbox Live “Gold” members, who pay $50 a year mainly to play games online with friends in other places.
