AT&T has announced that a further 38,000 new subscribers signed up to its U-verse service in the second quarter of 2007, bringing the total to 51,000.

U-verse offers IPTV, Internet access and will eventually offer VoIP to consumers across America, although the service is currently limited to just 23 metropolitan areas of the US including San Francisco, California and Dallas, Texas.

“AT&T has a strong foundation for growth in wireless and IP-based services, and in the second quarter we improved our trajectory in key areas,” said Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO of AT&T. “Our U-verse video service has begun to ramp aggressively.”

(more…)

In addition to a myriad of light entertainment videos, Chinese mobile phone owners can now download film clips of the Korean War and emotive war anthems to celebrate the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, subscribers to the country’s second largest mobile operator, China Unicorn, are being offered the service for about $1 USD a month.

(more…)

The European Union is backing Theseus, an alleged Google-Beater search engine to the tune of $250 million, half from public tax funds.

Theseus would incorporate new DRM processes allowing for the automatic creation of metadata for audio, video, 2D and 3D picture files, as well as algorithms for the semantic processing of all multimedia documents.

(more…)

My Damn Channel is a new internet TV destination which launched yesterday. We are seeing plenty of new web TV content appearing online but what seperates My Damn Channel from the crowd is it’s lineup of Hollywood Stars.

Harry Shearer (Simpsons, Spinal Tap) and Paul Reiser (Mad About You) are among the top Hollywood stars lined up by former CBS Radio programming director Rob Barnett to produce original content for the site.

YouTube Meets NGTV

As you enter My Damn Channel you are taken to a NGTV-esque page which highlights the various shows available on the channel using an aesthetic flash layout.

When you go to watch a show you go to a page which has more of a traditional YouTube style to it where you can watch the video, share it and leave comments.

Channels available at launch include the political and pop culture satire of The Harry Shearer Project, Links by musician and record producer Don Was in conjunction with Paul Reiser, and Wainy Days from comedian David Wains. MTV’s Andy Milionakis will have his own channel premiering soon.

Other channels from additional talent are scheduled to premiere, including one focusing on the Web’s rising stars.

(more…)

Cablevision Systems has today launched its partnership with CNET.com, bringing the site’s CNET TV offering to iO’s 2.5 million digital cable television customers.

The new Cablevision channel is being dubbed CNET TV - Powered by Optimum and will provide hours of on-demand television from tech news to how-to advice, as well as popular shows such as Top 5, Insider Secrets and Prize Fight.

The channel’s programming is divided into more than 100 distinct titles or choices, all of which are updated daily and can be accessed free of charge.

(more…)