Livestream Livepack Goes Live

Livestream, formerly known as Mogulus, is one of several live streaming companies which offer everyone the chance to be the star of their own television channel. It’s a competitive sector, with Ustream and Justin.tv the other big contenders.

But yesterday saw Livestream launch a new service which could mark it out against its competitors. Livepack is “the world’s first solution for wireless live streaming at HD quality,” and the hardware which makes that possible fits in a specially designed backpack.

Livepack Details

Livepack is designed for broadcasting any and all events live over the Internet. This includes concerts, sporting events, wedding, graduations, and everything in between.

There are other options already for doing this, but all rely on a reliable fixed Internet connection and none can yet deliver high quality video. Livestream maintains that its new Livepack solves both these issued at a stroke.

The hardware comes courtesy of LiveU, fits in a backpack, and includes “a built-in wireless connection with six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems over three carriers, encoding hardware, Firewire cable, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month.”

Integration with Livestream’s streaming video platform and content delivery network (CDN) is included, which means that once the stream is started it streams to your Livestream player and is captured and archived for future playback as well.

Livepack Video Demo and Pricing

Livestream Livepack is only available in the U.S. and available as a monthly or yearly rental. A one-off monthly rental costs $2,500 while a yearly subscription brings the cost down to $1,500. Which may seem expensive but is a fraction of the cost of professional solutions.

Conclusions

Livestream Livepack isn’t going to appeal to everyone due to the high costs involved, but for those seeking a near-professional solution for live streaming outside events, it’s a genius and affordable solution that fills a gap in the market.

For a very reasonable investment, a whole new world can now be accessed by both amateur and professional Webcasters.

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I recently interviewed him about what it takes to be at the head of such a service, and what he thinks of the future of his company and IPTV in general.

As OTA and Cable barely cover cultures past Spanish in the U.S. Sivoo currently has 20,000 hours of programming in Spanish, Chinese, and Hindi.

Burhan sees this as a Greenfield opportunity for content delivery and Sivoo in particular.

We are evaluating a new audio player platform to provide sliced Q&A for faster access for our readers, while we are still tweaking it, please let us know what you think of it.

[Content in whole or part adapted from IPTVe and is licensed under Creative Commons, no addition derivative works may be copied from this article without prior permission from IPTVe and Web TV Wire]

In a statement which has chilled the blood of many U.S. IPTV operators, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has just asked the state’s Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) to require that AT&T obtain a cable TV license for its IPTV offering.

Connecticut AG Blumenthal stated “this (AT&T U-Verse IPTV) service must be licensed as cable, regulated as cable.”

In light of a July 27 ruling by Federal Judge Janet Bond Arterton that AT&T’s U-Verse IPTV service is a cable television service, the DPUC has the ability to stop AT&T’s infrastructure improvements and construction, as well as its marketing activities for enrolling new customers until it complies with the onerous licensing requirement.

AT&T is expected to appeal by next week’s deadline. A loss in the appeal process could open the door to IPTV operators being required to obtain cable TV licenses throughout the country, a move which could completely change the industry and drive smaller operators out of the market.

[Via LegalNewsline]

UBS Warburg (UBS being the United Bank of Switzerland) issued a report last week in which Nikos Theodosopoulos had some choice speculation for the company’s future direction:

After, what we believe was a failed bid to acquire Avaya, we believe Nortel is likely to seek alternative acquisitions in a bid to either increase scale or accelerate growth in strategic areas including enterprise, carrier VoIP and/or IPTV.

Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski has been doing his bit to add fuel to the rumour fire too and in a recent interview with Reuters commented:

We are doing lots of analysis internally on how to grow the company organically and we started discussions recently with companies that we believe can be added to our growth trajectory.

Sounds promising, and could help offset some Nortel’s losses over the last financial year. It’s still a long way off from official, but if it does happen you will be able to read about it on the best broadband video blog on the net (clue: this one).

Kind of like what lots of people already do with films rented from Blockbuster, but a shade more legal and without the need to venture outdoors or risk late return fines.

Far from settling into their own little corner of digital downloads, it seems that FilmOn has aspirations way beyond its current offerings and is planning to roll out its own IPTV service.

UK IPTV Service in Beta

The service, which is currently in its beta phase, will be launched officially in September supported by FilmOn-branded hybrid freeview/broadband set top boxes. The hardware will ship on the 14th of October costing £199.

The initial model is an 80GB offering which will include PVR functionality and will come preloaded with 10-20 films. Later, another version with an integrated DVD burner will follow.

The service is set to be backed by a $200 million advertising push courtesy of UK-based independent film production and sales group 111pix. As such the service will have a focus on independent movies and films that are just two or three notches above Carry On levels of naughtiness if you get our drift (*whispers* soft porn).

Sounds ambitious, but we question whether people will pay for a 200 quid box to watch films they have never heard of; might be a bit of a niche market and a tough sell.

[Via Tech Digest]

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.”

After claims earlier on this year that AT&T’s proprietary IPTV technology (which delivers digital TV and high-speed broadband services via a fibre-optic network stretching into residential neighbourhoods) might be “doomed”, it now looks as if U-verse is finding its feet and offering a viable alternative to rivals such as Comcast and Verizon.

[Via ipTV News]

Due to legislation pending approval in Korea, Korea Telecom (KT) has decided to trial, and ultimately launch, an IPTV service in Russia.

The president of KT suggested a trial service will being in August ahead of a full service launch next year. Thirty Russian channels will be broadcast in real-time over the internet in addition to other shows, films and sports being available on demand.

KT was hoping to launch the IPTV service first in its native Korea – to the point where it delayed overseas offers. However, legislation relating to IPTV deployment must be passed in Korea first and it’s currently still pending approval.

As a result, KT decided it must push forward with its overseas interests. The company is still keen to roll-out IPTV in Korea swiftly to help boost the media industry.

[Via IPTV News]

UK broadband and mobile operator Orange has signed a multi-year video on-demand deal with Disney-ABC International in preparation for its looming IPTV venture.

Subscribers to the service will be granted access to watch a selection of films from Disney, Touchstone and Miramax, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Déjà Vu and Wild Hogs.

“We’re committed to developing a digital TV service that will allow our customers to get more from their TV by putting them in control of the best quality entertainment,” said Tim Pearson, Director of IPTV for Orange.

Orange already offers TV services in France, Spain, Poland, Mauritius and Senegal, but the Disney-ABC agreement is the first of a number it is planning to announce for the UK.

Disney-ABC’s massive brand power is likely to stand Orange (which currently has 1.5 million broadband subscribers) in good stead against its rival ISPs including BT and Tiscali, when the firm’s digital TV service launches later this year.

[Via IPTV News]

Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype and Kazaa, claimed today that Joost, the IPTV start-up hatched by himself and Janus Friis, has lured over 1 million users since its beta launch in 2006.

This ties in with the lesser-known MyWaves, a cellular video service, which has just announced it has reached 1 million subscribers in a similar time period. Maybe the two companies should hold a joint party and invite me.

The figure was revealed by Zennström at a recent Skype press conference in Tallinn, Estonia, and is the first time that audience figures for the business, formerly codenamed ‘The Venice Project’, have been divulged.

Joost’s aim is to provide a free YouTube-esque video sharing experience to its users, but with fully authorised content, backing from advertisers and delivery via a P2P model, the latter of has been a central part in both of the entrepreneurs’ previous web-based ventures.

Full Launch On The Horizon

Without specifying an exact date, Zennström stated that Joost would be fully launched later on this year, supported by media giants including CBS, CNN, Sony and Viacom, as well as “30 Tier 1 advertisers.”

“Ease of use is such an important thing for us,” Zennström added, in regard to the issue of ensuring speedy delivery of content to an ever-growing user base.

Overcoming the problem of smooth data management will be key in Joost’s attempts to compete with its rivals in the sector such as Bablegum and Microsoft LiveStation. Still, a million in a year of beta testing is nothing to scoff at, and bodes pretty well for the future if you ask me.

Before you start begging me for a beta invite read this.

[Via APC Mag]

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) today launched its new IPTV service, mio TV. Available in the city-state, its initial offering is of 33 channels including blockbuster movies and offerings from the BBC.

Starting from tomorrow, willing subscribers will a minimum monthly fee of 15 Singaporean dollars per month for a mix of channels, ranging from $3.21 for Zee Music to $12.84 for programmes displayed in high-definition.

SingTel claims that its service will revolutionise the way Singaporeans watch television, by allowing viewers to indulge in what they want, when they want, without being tied down to fixed program schedules or rigid subscription packages.

A television shake-up

The firm hopes mio TV will shake-up the monopoly on pay TV in the country, currently held by StarHub, whose minimum cable fee stands at $29.96 Singaporean dollars.

To achieve this, SingTel is promising to pump $30 million into the project over the next fiscal year, offering the largest range of Video on Demand titles in Singapore.

There’s nothing like a bit of healthy competition, but can Singapore’s IPTV new kids on the block win out against a such deep-rooted opposition, and could similar IPTV business models spread further afield, threatening the likes of DirecTV in North America?

[Via SingTel]