Mediaroom

Microsoft's Windows Phone sales for 2011 are "abysmal," according to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published last Friday.

Diving through Microsoft's annual report released late last month, the news site came up with a revenue figure of $613 million for the full fiscal year, which includes Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7, Zune, Mediaroom, Surface, and hardware.

Remove the sales kicked in by the Zune and the other non-mobile items, and Microsoft's mobile operating systems actually delivered less than $613 million.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request from CNET for comment on the … Read more

Canadian telecommunication provider Telus is now offering its TV programming through Microsoft's Xbox 360.

The service, which was launched on Wednesday in neighboring provinces Alberta and British Columbia, makes use of Microsoft's Mediaroom software for delivering live TV content without the need for a coaxial connection or any special hardware.

This software is not yet built-in to the Xbox 360's system software, nor is it available through the Xbox Live Marketplace as a download. Instead, it runs off a disc supplied by Telus. Users also need to be paid Telus Optik TV subscribers to access its programming. … Read more

Microsoft is quietly making another shuffle within its entertainment units. Less than a year after consolidating the Zune, Media Center and Mediaroom efforts under Enrique Rodriguez, the software maker has shuffled things up again.

Mediaroom, Microsoft's Internet Protocol television effort, will become a standalone business under Entertainment unit head Robbie Bach, while Media Center and Zune software will move under Don Mattrick, who heads Microsoft's broader Interactive Entertainment Business unit. In a statement, Microsoft called it a "natural evolution" of the business.

Less than a year ago, though, Microsoft was touting the strategic advantages of combining … Read more

Microsoft is using server virtualization technology to make its Mediaroom IPTV software more palatable to smaller phone companies.

The company announced the new virtualization features in the Mediaroom software on Wednesday. The company said the added technology will reduce the amount of hardware needed to create a full IPTV offering by more than 80 percent.

This is a big deal for smaller service providers, which often can't afford the cost of running the necessary servers for the traditional Mediaroom platform. Microsoft claims that the virtualized offer can provide hundreds of TV channels and tens of thousands of videos on … Read more

Microsoft said on Monday that its Mediaroom software is being used by a Chinese TV provider to offer Internet Protocol television over a traditional cable network.

The deal, with Guangzhou Digital Media Group marks two first for the company--its first IPTV deal in China as well as the first time its software has been used to power TV over a cable network.

"We had always intended it to go to many different types of operators," said Ben Huang. "Now you are starting to see the fruits of that labor."

Until now, its software had been used … Read more

Microsoft has been investing in interactive TV for more than a decade, but as of this month, the company can finally say it has a million customers.

Right now, there about 1 million set-top boxes running Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV software. In the coming weeks, Microsoft said it expects to also have more than 1 million homes using its software. (The difference between homes and set-top boxes stems from the fact that some customers have more than one set-top box).

There are a lot of reasons why unit CTO Peter Barrett expects the IPTV effort to start paying off even … Read more

Microsoft has quietly folded its Internet Protocol television, Media Center, and HD DVD efforts into a single organization, known as the Connected TV business group.

The unit, which is part of Robbie Bach's Entertainment and Devices division, is headed by Enrique Rodriguez, the VP (and former WebTV developer) who has been heading the IPTV effort. Peter Barrett, who was CTO of the IPTV unit, takes on that role for the unit.

The move, which took place in October, paves the way for the different technologies, all centered around the television, to work more closely together.

On the IPTV front, … Read more