MobiTV, one of the more established mobile TV companies in the market today with deals in place with several major U.S. mobile operators, today revealed a significant deal to grow out its business in Europe: a deal with Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT), one of Europe’s biggest operators, to develop a…

This is the third in a series of posts this week that will highlight key people, companies and trends to watch in 2012 in the sectors we cover most, from publishing to legal, and from mobile to advertising. 2012 may be the year when internet TV’s promise becomes a mainstream…

With the growth of over-the-top services that let users access the video they want over the internet (and often, for free), those companies offering pay-TV have to look for more bells and whistles to keep fickle consumers interested in their services. The latest offerings in this area come from France…

Back in August, we wrote about how Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) had started to offer U.S.-based users of its Apple TV device the ability to stream shows purchased from iTunes via Apple’s iCloud. Now it looks as if that service is becoming available internationally.

After years of effort and speculation, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has pieced together nearly 40 broadcast services from around the world to boost the on-demand programming available through Xbox Live. It took a shift in strategy to make room for broadcasters like the BBC, the trend toward authentication to bring on…

Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), today said his company first decided to buy Skype when the two were in discussions on an advertising deal (advertising is one way Skype has hoped to make more money off those millions of people who steadfastly refuse to take up its…

In Steve Ballmer’s keynote today, his first ever at Mobile World Congress, the CEO of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) said that the new version of Windows Phone 7 will feature multitasking, a top-of-the-range mobile web browser and integration with Microsoft’s buzziest product of the moment: Xbox Kinect: in short, everything that…

As price competition continues to put pressure on mobile operators, O2 has come up with a new customer retention strategy: give them a game instead of a phone.

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) appears ready to take more of its Zune services outside the U.S. for the first time, using Windows Phone 7 as a beachhead. One observer spotted this website inviting UK sign-ups to Microsoft’s all-you-can-eat Zune Pass music service, with unlimited streaming and downloads, priced at £8.99 a…

Appetite for BBC iPlayer is growing stronger and stronger. October requests reached a record 79.3 million, according to new, more detailed stats Auntie has revealed. But as the Beeb tries to take iPlayer to ever more devices (currently on about 23), it’s hitting one or two hurdles on a per-platform…

*CBS* should be pleased with its choice to allow *Microsoft* to sync Xbox LIVE to Last.fm, as the partnership has already netted the streaming music service nearly a million new subscribers. Last.fm went live on Xbox last Tuesday, and both companies are already hyping the deal as a success in…

Four months after announcing the features, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) added social networking and music radio functionality to its Xbox 360 console on Tuesday, along with the first European foray for its Zune brand (see earlier reports from Tameka and I). Here are my initial explorations with each new service (turn…

*Microsoft* rolled out a slew of new social features for the Xbox 360 today, making its already popular Xbox LIVE network a much more comprehensive source of entertainment. The upgrade lets people post status updates to Twitter and Facebook, view and share photos, and even stream music from Last.fm. The…

The Zune portable media player still doesn’t exist in Europe, but that isn’t stopping Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) bringing the Zune brand across the Atlantic. Turesday’s Xbox Live service update that will add Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm support will, as anticipated, also rebrand the Video Marketplace section as “Zune Marketplace”, according…

Hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360 users who have illegally modified their console to play copied games have been disconnected from the online Xbox Live service as part of an annual drive to counter Xbox pirates. Guardian.co.uk puts the figure as high as one million of the service’s 20 million…

—BBC Canvas: Richard Halton, the man in charge of the BBC-convened open IPTV project Canvas, says the project’s partners are working on Canas could support social networking features to tie in with TV programmes. He says “people could play along against their friends, which could work well for entertainment formats.”…

—Sky-Xbox problems: The technical problems that beset the launch of Sky’s channels on the Xbox 360 have continued: Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has now suspended all access to the service and is running a gradual “revised rollout”. The company says: “Unfortunately due to the unprecedented levels of simultaneous demand, we did…

—Sky-Xbox glitches: After all the fanfare, Sky’s long-awaited Xbox 360 VOD service was pulled shortly after its full launch on Tuesday because of an “unforeseen technical issue”. Without elaborating further, Sky says: “Sky Player engineers are hard at work to resolve the problem - we expect to have the full…

It’s been more than four months since BSkyB and Microsoft announced an ambitious plan to delivery pay TV over the software maker’s Xbox 360 console. After eager interest shown by readers and viewers of our demo at the time, now they are finally nearly ready to go live with the…