NXTcomm: Microsoft Snags Advertising Firm, Expands IPTV Ecosystem for Telcos

Microsoft Corp. confirmed Wednesday that it’s acquiring addressable advertising power Navic Networks. Meanwhile, the software company’s telco TV unit expanded the list of vendor and system integration partners that help operators deploy its TV platform.

Microsoft’s TV unit executives did not say how nor when Navic’s advanced advertising assets might be integrated into its MediaRoom platform. Microsoft does expect to integrate some of Navic’s array of ad inventory management and distribution into the platform, but the spokesperson declined to elaborate.

Allowing telco TV customers to sell and support advertising would be a boon to a customer like AT&T Inc. that currently doesn’t offer advertising with its U-verse service.

Adding basic advertising functionality to Microsoft’s IPTV package would help telcos better compete with incumbent cable operators that already sell ads and are working on a national cable ad venture to exploit that competitive edge as detailed at The Cable Show in May.

Microsoft IPTV Ecosystem Partners Added

Aiming to make it simpler for telcos to deploy a more robust IPTV system, Microsoft TV added Hewlett Packard Co. and others to its list of systems integration partners, which previously featured Alcatel-Lucent. Test and measurement vendors Agilent Technologies Inc. and Ineoquest Inc. also were added, as well as Harris Corp. for its standard definition encoder. That brings the ecosystem to 26 companies.

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