Holiday greetings! 3DTV back in the news; Pace acquires Latens Systems

> Here are some sure signs that the holiday season is upon us. Radio stations have started playing Christmas music 24/7 and consumer electronics vendors and content providers have resurrected 3DTV. First item: ESPN (which of course wants to sell its 3DTV channel) released a report that says, according to Artie Bulgrin, senior VP-ESPN Research + Analytics, that "fans have a higher level of enjoyment when viewing 3D." Now here's the kicker. "For advertisers, this study provides good news on the level of fan engagement when viewing 3D ads," he continued. Story.

> Second 3DTV holiday trend item: CableWholesale has issued a technical paper explaining the "ins and outs of 3D television" beginning with the history of 3D and explaining the stereoscopic presentation types needed to make it happen.  Story.

> Of course, if it's Christmas there has to be a Scrooge. The University of California and CBS-TV have jumped into that role with a study that says some people develop motion sickness and headaches when watching 3DTV. Story.

> In normal news, international set-top box maker Pace has purchased Northern Irish software specialist Latens Systems to "help connect the dots" between "different hardware gadgets that live in the home," according to Pace's PR lead Alison Puente. Story.

> As if to prove that there actually is satellite broadband, Hughes Communications reported it expects to reach the 930,000 U.S. subscriber mark by late 2015, a 67 percent increase over the 558,000 subs it currently counts. Story.

And finally... it's now official; there's a u in iControl. In a name-boggling merger, home management vendor iControl Networks basically took over uControl to launch a best-of-breed offering that includes interactive home security, energy management and home health care to broadband service providers. In keeping with the times, neither the merged company, which will be known as iControl, nor the two separate entities that created it could name any service providers with whom they are in deployment or trials. News release.