– NME.com: NME.com is looking to win viewers for its video content by releasing more than 50 artist interviews through iTunes, The Guardian reports. The IPC music mag site’s own video section is being tidied up to accommodate a glut of new material recorded backstage by reporters at summer festivals this year. The report says the videos will be made available via iTunes (they do not appear to be available yet) for free, though IPC’s Ignite Digital unit intends to monetise the content through sponsorship or advertising.
– Orange TV: The long-awaited UK IPTV service from France Telecom’s (EPA:FTE) mobile unit will surface before year’s end. Orange unveiled the 44 idents it will use for the forthcoming fixed-line broadband TV service at IBC in Amsterdam over the weekend. Animated characters produced by Red Bee Media will guide viewers around the set-up’s programme guide environment. Orange TV had become just a distant memory since it was first announced back in June 2006, but this latest press release says the service “will launch later this year”. It will now find BT Vision and Tiscali TV already in the marketplace, however.
– Setanta: Irish pay-TV outfit Setanta Sports has now nailed those negotiations with Tiscali (BIT:TIS) to carry its £9.99 pack of sports channels on the Italian broadband operator’s UK IPTV service, The Guardian says. Tiscali TV – rebranded after Tiscali’s purchase of video-on-demand operator Homechoice, has just 50,000 customers and limited regional availability but has been striking some impressive carriage deals, having previously secured carriage for BSkyB’s (LON:BSY) suite of basic channels. Setanta, too, has been successful in winning distribution – not only is it available via Sky, Freeview (with a newer set-top box) and Virgin Media, but it also struck a deal with the UK’s other IPTV service, BT Vision, in August. Its arrival on Tiscali TV will give the telco a valuable asset – the 46 live Premiership games to which Setanta has rights.