Microsoft's media industry announcement blitz

Stuart Corner
Monday, 16 April 2007 13:01

IT Industry - Market

Microsoft has unveiled a swag of initiatives for the media and entertainment industries, confirming its aim to be a major player in these markets.

The announcements were made at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters conference (NAB2007) in Las Vegas. Microsoft claims that its media platform technologies and broad partner ecosystem enable media and entertainment companies to "create and manage nearly endless varieties of media and deliver stunning entertainment experiences to their customers."

According to Michael O'Hara, general manager of the Communications Sector at Microsoft, "Microsoft's offerings support the entire content life cycle and help companies create and manage digital content, as well as provide a rewarding end-user experience."

He pointed out that Microsoft enjoyed a unique advantage over rival technology suppliers to the media and entertainment industry. "Microsoft provides the business systems and IT infrastructure that media and entertainment companies need."

The announcements include two new products: Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft Interactive Media Manager, a new Microsoft VC-1 encoder software developer kit and the expansion of the Microsoft TV IPTV partner ecosystem. Microsoft said it would also detail new collaborations with Ascent Media Group, McCann Worldgroup, Showtime Networks, Starz Entertainment, SyncCast and TV Guide.

Microsoft Silverlight, previously called Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere is a new cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the visual media and rich interactive applications for the web. According to Microsoft, "Silverlight integrates with existing web technologies and assets to provide higher-quality experiences with lower costs for media delivery. It is claimed to offer consistent experiences to both Macintosh and Windows users on a variety of browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.