(7 Janaury 2008 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Microsoft has announced that its Microsoft Mediaroom Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and multimedia platform is delivering video entertainment experiences to more than one million set-top boxes worldwide. It has also said that its service provider customers are adding two new IPTV subscriber households every minute.

Microsoft has made this announcement at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The Mediaroom platform is on pace to reach one
million subscriber homes in the first quarter of the year. These milestones demonstrate the growing consumer demand for IPTV and connected television experiences that go beyond traditional pay-TV offerings. Helping to lead this connected TV revolution, Microsoft Mediaroom is transforming the way viewers experience television, movies, music, photos and games in their own homes.

Deployed or being trialled by more than 20 service providers worldwide on four continents and in 18 countries, Microsoft Mediaroom enables unique features and experiences, such as simultaneous recording of multiple high-definition and standard-definition TV channels, personal media sharing, whole-home and remote digital video recording (DVR), and multiple picture-in-picture scenarios.

The platform also integrates with the Xbox 360 gaming device, bringing together next-generation television and gaming offerings into an integrated entertainment experience. In addition, it allows third parties to create new TV applications and services that enrich the TV viewing experience through the multimedia application environment in the platform.

Further showcasing its commitment to delivering unique connected TV services to consumers around the world, Microsoft announced several other Microsoft Mediaroom developments at the 2008 International CES:

-- DVR Anywhere: This gives consumers the flexibility to watch their recorded programmes on any TV in their home, further enhancing the platform's connected TV capabilities. With DVR Anywhere, viewers could begin watching a movie in the living room, resume viewing it on the kitchen TV during dinner, and finish watching the same movie from the comfort of their bedroom.

In addition, members of a household will never have to fight over the remote control again, due to the capability to watch the same or different recorded programmes from multiple TVs in the home simultaneously while recording other shows to be viewed at their convenience.

-- Futuristic connected TV applications for Microsoft Mediaroom: Microsoft is partnering with ChoiceStream, emuse technologies, ES3, Showtime Networks and Turner Broadcasting System to demonstrate applications that showcase new connected TV applications and scenarios that are enabled by the extensible Microsoft Mediaroom platform.

-- Ecosystem partnership with Broadcom: Microsoft and Broadcom announced a collaboration in IPTV products. The collaboration includes Microsoft and Broadcom working together to enable the Microsoft Mediaroom client software to operate on next-generation set-top boxes utilizing the Broadcom BCM7405 system on a chip.

Yankee Group senior analyst Vince Vittore says, "Demand for connected TV services is increasing exponentially on a global scale. Microsoft Mediaroom reaching 1 million set-top boxes is an important milestone. Microsoft Mediaroom is giving service providers new ways to differentiate themselves from the competition and further provide subscribers with the many next-generation connected TV offerings the platform enables."