Microsoft News Tracker

Press release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of Microsoft Mediaroom, the latest update to its award-winning Internet Protocol television (IPTV) software platform, featuring several new multimedia capabilities, including in-home personal music and photo sharing, dynamic MultiView (multiple picture-in-picture) capabilities, Multimedia Application Environment for development of interactive services and advanced applications, and digital terrestrial television (DTT) support. Microsoft also introduced the Microsoft Mediaroom Application Development toolkit, which provides service providers and third-party developers with tools to create compelling, revenue-generating TV-based applications that run on the platform.

With this latest release, Microsoft is renaming its IPTV platform Microsoft Mediaroom to better reflect the broader set of new connected entertainment experiences made possible today and the types of experiences anticipated in the future.

Microsoft’s Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president, Microsoft TV Business tries to explain the branding rationale and provides an update on the state of Microsoft’s TV business.

Update: Ina Fried provides a nice retrospective on Microsoft’s not always glorious history in the TV business.