IPTV continues to offer a mix of opportunities and challenges. As telecoms sprint to become video network operators, broadcast, media, and satellite companies everywhere are placing their bets on what’s around the corner.

In the cable sector, Comcast and other companies are building up their network capacity and CableLabs’ DOCSIS 3.0 with 160 Mbs channel bonding enables a new level of IP video services. Telecoms such as Verizon have become veterans at delivering TV services over hundreds of video, music and HD channels. Their FiOS business reached 1.5M subscribers last year.

Its NAB time again, and as you read this many of us in the industry will be gearing up for that lovely confab in the city of lost wages. I have one recommendation: check out satellite HD, MPEG-4, transcoding, and DVB-S2 products.

We’ve seen dramatic increases in consumer HDTV set sales over the past two years. With the DTV transition and analog over-the-air shut-off deadline of February 2009 looming, it’s hard not to expect we’ll see an upsurge in sales this year.   Consumer demand for HD programming is driving channel growth, and as a result, demand for HD satellite capacity.  

A new study from ABI Research indicates that Bluetooth-enabled equipment shipments in Asia will reach 982 million units in 2013, representing a compound annual growth rate of 39% over 2006 shipments.

While Bluetooth has been in the market for almost a decade, it has not proliferated widely in Asia. However, the picture is changing, especially when it comes to cellular handsets, the study said.