August 25, 2006

Harmonic to Acquire Entone's Video Networking Software Business

Weekly Pix

By Staff Report

Harmonic said this week that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the video networking software business of Entone Technologies. The Entone software solutions - encompassing content ingest, distributed content management and video streaming - facilitate the provisioning of personalized video services including video-on-demand (VOD), network personal video recording (nPVR), time-shifted TV and targeted advertisement insertion.

Also this week, Harmonic also rolled out its DiviCom Electra 5400, a third generation MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) standard definition (SD) encoder.

Sling Serves Up Free Mobile TV Software

"Have video, will travel" is Sling Media's motto. The company announced this week that its SlingPlayer Mobile TV software is free, for a limited time, to new Slingbox owners who buy and register their Slingbox between Aug. 15, and Sept. 16. A $29.99 value, SlingPlayer Mobile is a software package that gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV from any network-enabled mobile phone or handheld computer (PDA) powered by Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system. Sling Media also released its latest version of SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Smartphone software.

ABI Research Revises Set-Top Box Shipment Forecasts

DBS providers have traditionally left their customers' purchases of the required set-top box to the open retail environment. But in a quiet change of tack, some have begun introducing set-top lease or buyback schemes reminiscent of cable operators' arrangements. This trend has led ABI Research to revise its set-top shipment forecasts for the immediate future.

"ABI Research's forecasts for STB shipments have been revised to reflect the new trend towards 'recycling' satellite service STBs," said principal analyst Michael Arden. "Our current figures anticipate STB shipments of just 46.11 million in 2006, as opposed to 2005's figure of 50.78 million."

By 2011, however, the forecasts are more bullish, showing a recovery to 53.72 million units. Much of that growth, says Arden, will come from shipments in Asia, Western Europe and the Middle East and will be driven by subscriber growth as well as upgrades of existing set-tops in the home in order to support advanced video services.

Some DBS providers are positive about the numbers of set-tops they expect to recycle, citing hoped-for exchange rates of 80 percent or more. ABI Research said such estimates are optimistic, however, and proposes that the average recycle rate will typically be closer to 30 percent to 40 percent.