—NBC: BT (NYSE: BT) Vision has struck a deal to make NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) movies available for hi-definition VOD on the IPTV platform. The service is available to HD TV owners without the kind of HD-specific monthly subscription charged by Sky and Virgin, just a £4.95 cost for each new movie, £2.95 for archive titles. Movies download to Vision’s V-box, with a 48-hour rental window.

—HBO: Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has added HBO dramas like The Wire and Sex And The City to the TV section of its UK iTunes Store, C21 reports, ensuring a significant commitment to homegrown content continues to evade the platform. Shows from BBCWW, C4 and Sky One are rareties amongst a roster still heavy with US imports.

—Google: Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is trying to get ad agencies to trial UK TV ads that urge viewers to search for branded keywords. The trial would mimic Google’s 2006 partnership where ads invited viewers to “Google Pontiac”, for example. Google wants to gauge the effectiveness, NMA reports. If successful, it would suggest Google’s own brand is more powerful than recall for advertisers’ own URLs.