Today's Top Stories
1. Microsoft exits set-top software business, agreeing to sell Mediaroom to Ericsson
2. Charter converting to all-digital platform in Wisconsin
3. Time Warner Cable restores phone service to 800,000 subscribers impacted by outage
4. DyleTV expanding mobile TV platform to Baltimore, Jacksonville, Salt Lake City
5. Report: Austin preparing to be second Google Fiber city Also Noted: IneoQuest
Spotlight On... Cable TV Pioneers names 2013 class
Minerva to resell ContentWise recommendation engine; Charter, Time Warner Cable schedule Q1 earnings calls and much more... 
On the Hot Seat: Discovery's Sean Atkins
Sean Atkins has been working at Discovery Communications for five years and focuses on three areas: native digital content, original digital video connected to popular TV series, and branded entertainment. He helps run Internet video network Revision3, which Discovery acquired in May 2012, as well as overseeing the production of original Web series tied to Discovery's most popular programs and coordinating with advertisers to create custom content. He spoke with Fierce about digital video trends, native content and the impatient nature of the digital viewership. Check out our Hot Seat here  Follow @FierceCable on Twitter!
News From the Fierce Network:
1. TDS Telecom begins new broadband stimulus projects in Kentucky, Mississippi
2. AT&T remains silent on Digital Life launch delay
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> Whitepaper: VoLTE: Why, When and How?
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* General ad info: Click here | Today's Top News 1. Microsoft exits set-top software business, agreeing to sell Mediaroom to Ericsson
After struggling for more than a decade to sell software that could power cable set-tops, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) said Monday that it agreed to sell its Mediaroom software platform to Swedish technology vendor Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC). While Microsoft has struck deals in recent years supply Mediaroom to AT&T (NYSE: T) U-verse TV, Canada's Telus and other international providers, the software giant hasn't seen any major U.S. cable MSOs use its software to power their digital cable set-tops. Microsoft does have deals with Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T that allow subscribers to navigate pay TV programming with the Xbox 360. Selling the Mediaroom to business to Ericsson could allow it to focus its efforts to develop interactive programming and make the Xbox a platform that more viewers rely on for home entertainment. Microsoft began pitching U.S. cable operators set-top software in the late 1990s. It invested $1 billion in Comcast in 1997, and in 1998, John Malone's Tele-Communications agreed to deploy its Windows CE software on up to 5 million set-tops. But difficulties in integrating the Microsoft software with the General Instrument DCT-5000 digital set-top prevented TCI, which was later acquired by AT&T, from deploying the Microsoft software. Microsoft has had more success selling software to international IPTV providers. In addition to U-verse and Telus, Mediaroom has been deployed by Deutsche Telekom in Germany, Telefonica in Spain and Swisscom. Ericsson said the deal will make it the leading provider of IPTV and multiscreen software solutions, with a market share of more than 25 percent. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2013. The deal to buy Mediaroom, which employs 400 people, is Ericsson's third major acquisition in the last 14 months. In February 2012, Ericsson agreed to buy Canadian WiFi technology provider BelAir Networks. A month later, it agreed to buy French set-top and multiplatform software provider Technicolor. Adding Mediaroom to its portfolio could also help Ericsson compete with Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), which acquired video software developer NDS last year for $5 billion. Ericsson and Microsoft didn't disclose terms of the deal. For more:
- see the release Commentary: How Dr. Malone drove his Rollys Royce to Liberty Global Related articles:
Ericsson pays $25M for Technicolor broadcast services unit
Ericsson could expand cable market share with BelAir acquisition
Microsoft recruits Sling Media founder Blake Krikorian|
Westlake: Microsoft negotiating more deals with multichannel providers for Xbox
Microsoft adds ThinkAnalytics recommendation engine to Mediaroom IPTV partner program Read more about: U-Verse, Comcast
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2. Charter converting to all-digital platform in Wisconsin
Charter (Nasdaq: CHTR) is beginning to convert its cable systems in Wisconsin to an all-digital platform, reclaiming bandwidth used for analog channels in order to increase its HDTV channel capacity and offer subscribers advanced products such as a cloud-based interactive program guide. The Stamford, Conn.-based MSO is beginning to notify subscribers in Wisconsin that they will need to lease digital set-tops in order to continue to receive cable programming. Charter CEO Tom Rutledge announced last fall that the company would convert to an all-digital platform, following a strategy similar to those from Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA). Charter spokesman John Miller told Central Wisconsin Business that the company began dropping analog channels from its lineup in the last year, moving the networks to digital programming packages. "This is part of the evolution of Charter TV and will be taking place across our service areas through the next couple of years," Miller said. Rutledge said last month that converting to an all-digital platform could eventually help Charter reduce capital spending on customer premise equipment, since subscribers will be able to use devices such as tablet computers and connected TVs to watch subscription video programming. "We're moving to a world where I don't think we'll have to buy CPE. I think we'll be able to make our product work on the devices people have," Rutledge said at the Deutsche Bank 2013 Media, Internet & Telecom Conference. For more:
- Central Wisconsin Business has this story Related articles:
Charter CEO Rutledge envisions world without set-tops
Charter to restructure operations, go all-digital and increase capital spending
Rutledge: Charter considering network DVRs Read more about: Charter Communications
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3. Time Warner Cable restores phone service to 800,000 subscribers impacted by outage
4. DyleTV expanding mobile TV platform to Baltimore, Jacksonville, Salt Lake City
LAS VEGAS -- DyleTV, the mobile TV service backed NBC, Fox and several station groups, said it will expand to Baltimore, Jacksonville, Fla., and Salt Lake City. The company, which relies on over-the-air antenna attached to mobile devices such as Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad and iPhone to deliver local TV programming to viewers, said it will be able to reach 57 percent of the U.S. population after it expands to the new markets. Dyle made the announcement here Monday at the NAB Show. Last week, Sinclair Television said it would offer Dyle in a dozen markets, including Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Austin, Texas, and West Palm Beach, Fla. Dyle said Monday that it will also be available this year on CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) flagship station WCBS-TV in New York, Hearst Television NBC affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Raycom Media's CBS affiliate WOIO-TV in Cleveland, LinTV-owned NBC affiliate WDTN-TV in Dayton, Ohio, Media General's CBS affiliate WSPA-TV in Greenville, S.C., and Meredith Corp.'s CBS affiliate KCTV in Kansas City. "Expanding our station footprint in existing and new markets is critical to our success as we give more of the U.S. the ability to access live, local mobile TV on-the-go," Erik Moreno and Salil Dalvi, Dyle's co-general managers, said in a prepared statement. Dalvi is scheduled to speak Tuesday at FierceCable's Battle for Multiscreen Viewers event in Las Vegas. For more:
- see the release Commentary: NAB shines spotlight on TV Everywhere, disruptive media Related articles:
DyleTV rolls $99 Elgato local TV antennas for iPad, iPhone
Broadcasters challenge TV Everywhere services with Dyle mobile TV
Belkin to help broadcasters deliver live TV to iPad, iPhone
MCV announces brand for mobile DTV services Read more about: Nbc
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5. Report: Austin preparing to be second Google Fiber city
It appears that Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) fiber service will next pop up in Austin, Texas, the hotbed home of high tech companies as well as an old familiar foe, Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), and some new competition in AT&T's (NYSE: T) U-verse service. According to a report in Ubergizmo, press invites have been issued jointly by both the city and Google concerning a "very important announcement" the two will be making jointly on April 9. Google, of course, hasn't confirmed anything but, the publication said, a Google blog post was inadvertently (perhaps) issued last week that confirmed that Austin was the next target. The invitation, reported by VentureBeat, seems to leave little to the imagination, noting: "The City of Austin and Google will make a very important announcement that will have a positive impact on Austinites and the future of the city. We anticipate more than 100 community leaders and elected officials to be in attendance to celebrate this announcement." It also cagily skirts the reason for the invite, noting, "We cannot share the details of the announcement with you in advance (however) we know readers will want to learn more, so we encourage you to join us on Tuesday." There had been some initial thought that Kansas City was serving only as a test bed for the 1 Gbps broadband service, although Google executives, led by chairman Eric Schmidt, have always maintained it will expand elsewhere in the country. The initial rollout, just in its infant stages, has already drawn the attention of startup tech companies which have been rolling into the Kansas/Missouri cities to set up businesses, causing the communities to become known as Silicon Prairie. What they'll call Austin, if anything, is of course unclear, although with the presence of Dell, National Instruments, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) (which operates a call center) and Samsung within the city environs, "Austin is very much a tech-focused city," the VentureBeat story concluded. Austin, it should be noted, was one of the cities competing to become the first Google Fiber site, before that honor went to Kansas City. For more:
- Ubergizmo has this story
- and VentureBeat reported this story Related articles:
Report: Google Fiber to challenge AT&T and Comcast in Austin
Google Fiber moving to suburbs Read more about: Silicon Prairie
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Also Noted
SPOTLIGHT ON... Cable TV Pioneers names 2013 class The Cable TV Pioneers named the 19 industry veterans that it will induct at its annual banquet in Washington, D.C., on June 9. The 2013 class includes Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) CTO Mike LaJoie, Time Warner Cable North Carolina Area VP of Operations Diane Blackwood and retired TWC EVP Stephen Pagano. This year's class also includes executives from Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), NCTA, New Wave Communications, Arris (Nasdaq: ARRS) and several other companies. Read more Cable industry news from across the Web: > Minerva Networks said it integrated the ContentWise recommendation engine with its iTVFusion service management platform, and that it'll resell the combined solution worldwide. News release > NeuLion said it is partnering with LiveU on a product that combines LiveU's portable live video-over-cellular solution and NeuLion's Sports and TV Everywhere Platforms. News release > Charter Communications said it'll report first quarter earnings on May 7. News release > Time Warner Cable said it'll report first quarter earnings on April 25. News release Telecom News > Updated: Google is planning to expand its "Fiber" project to Austin, Texas, according to a report in VentureBeat. Article > China Telecom is one of many incumbent telcos finding new life in their copper plant by completing a VDSL2 with vectoring trial with Alcatel-Lucent in Foshan, a city in Guangdong province in southern China. Article Wireless News > Huawei revealed in its annual report for 2012 that it shipped 32 million smartphones last year, which, while up 60 percent from 2011, was well below the company's own prior forecasts for 2012 smartphone shipments. Article And finally… Motorola Mobility said it will demonstrate real-time HEVC (High Efficiency Video Encoding) and decoding at the NAB Show is Las Vegas this week. News release > Last Chance to Register: Exclusive Executive Breakfast at the 2013 NAB Show! - April 9, 2013 | Las Vegas, NV - Sponsored by: Comcast Media Center, Elemental Technologies, and Irdeto Executives from NBCUniversal, ONE World Sports, MobiTV, Inc., and Comcast Media Center explore the impact that the battle for multiscreen viewers is having on content owners, broadcasters, cable operators, and over-the-top video players. Join FierceCable Editor Steve Donohue for this exclusive breakfast event at the NAB Show, April 9, in Las Vegas. Sponsored by Comcast Media Center, Elemental Technologies, and Irdeto. FINAL CHANCE: REGISTER TODAY! > Competitive Carriers Global Expo - April 17-19 - New Orleans CCA is the premier trade show and conference for the competitive mobile ecosystem and brings together decision-makers for networking, learning and sharing best practices. CCA is the nation's leading association for competitive wireless providers. To register www.ccaevents.org. > Fierce Innovation Awards 2012 Live Announcement of this Year's Winners - Now Available On-Demand Please join Jason Nelson, Publisher of FierceWireless, FierceTelecom, and FierceCable as we announce the winners of the Fierce Innovation Awards 2012. Click here to RSVP today.
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