> VeriSign will acquire privately held, Mountain View, CA-based Kontiki for about $62 million to complement its Mobile Content Services and expand its Content Services portfolio. Release | Article
> AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon and CEA pledge interoperability of their various set-top boxes (STBs) or other IPTV interface devices. Article
> Ovum finds that the intersection of content providers/studios and telcos is an opportunity to a new market where VoD becomes TV. Article
> After trialling, Telecom Italia has commercially launched Microsoft's IPTV Edition software for its "Alice Home TV." The operator has also selected Verimatrix's Content Authority System (VCAS) for its AliceBox triple play service. Release (Microsoft) | Release (Verimatrix)
> PacketFront and Siemens provide open access triple play solutions to upgrade SEAS-NVE's, Denmark's utility company's broadband network. Release
> Madrid-based SIDSA (Semiconductores Investigación y Diseño) is launching Ether TV, an IP gateway for digital TV, to enter the IPTV market. Release (.pdf)
> Japanese Tranzas has licensed SecureMedia's Encryptonite System CA/DRM software to provide end-to-end IPTV content security. Release
> Georgia-based Ringgold Telephone has selected Latens FCAS Conditional Access to encrypt Pay-TV and VoD content. Release (.pdf)
> AOL and Warner Brothers launch In2TV on AOL.com. Release
> Tut Systems is upgrading IPTV headends from MPEG-2 AVC to MPEG-4 AVC for Allendale Communications, Consolidated Communications, MBO, and Iowa Network Services. Release
> Italian FASTWEB has deployed SkyStream Networks' Mediaplex-20 headend system. Release
And Finally... New restrictions would ensure there were at least five commercial media groups in major cities and four in regional centers in Australia. Article