The IPTV World Series Awards 2009 are a unique celebration of the outstanding achievements of the IPTV market.

The IPTV World Series Awards continue to recognise the outstanding technologies developed for telecoms video services but we are also expanding the awards to reflect the full IPTV ecosystem. A number of new categories have been added to recognise excellent in IPTV service marketing and to promote the activities of operators and content providers in the IPTV space.

The shortlist for the first time includes a number of content and operator companies, including the AT&T, Telekom Austria, PCCW (Hong Kong), Belgacom, Portugal Telecom Portugal, BesTV (China), BBC iPlayer, and NBC Universal.

To reflect the status and recognition of the IPTV Award throughout the industry, The Award will now be presented at a fabulous Gala Evening ceremony on the opening night of the IPTV World Forum. the world's largest IP Video focused event, on the Wednesday, 25th March 2009 at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London.

This fantastic networking event provides a great opportunity for client entertainment and for team building, whilst increasing the exposure for Award Winners.

Full criteria for the Awards categories, details of the Judging Panel, and details of how to book places for the Gala Dinner are available at www.iptv-forum.com/awards

The short listed companies and products are as follows:

Most Innovative New Service
Recognizes a service launched by an operator or service provider in 2008, and delivered over a managed network, which made a significant contribution to service revenues and customer satisfaction.

Shortlisted:
AT&T for U-verse Total Home DVR
Harmonic Inc. for Time-Shifted TV, 2008 Olympic Games with Chunghwa Telecom
Shanghai Media Group, China for BesTV
UTStarcom for iControl IPTV Service with Aksh Optifibre Ltd
Witbe for Next Generation TV Audience Measurement

Best On-Demand Technology for IPTV
Recognizes the best on demand technology for delivering a TV service over a managed IP network.

Shortlisted:
BBC for iPlayer
Belgacom for Blue Button
EchoStar Europe for EchoStar Graphic User Interface
Edgeware AB Quative Kudelski Group for SDP's VOD Shopping Mall

Best Interactive Service/Application
Recognizes interactive TV technologies and solutions across ALL network types, including terrestrial, satellite, cable, IPTV and mobile, and also covers technologies and services relating to Internet-based video delivered over any access network.

Shortlisted:
Alcatel-Lucent for Interactive Media Manager
Miniweb Interactive for Miniweb Interactive Service Platform
NBC Universal for Bravo New Media
Oberon Media for Diamond
Telekom Austria for AG ORF1 interactive

Best Quad Play Service
Recognizes excellence of an operator or service provider in providing a quad play service

Shortlisted:
AT&T for AT&T U-verse TV/U-verse High Speed Internet/U-verse Voice and AT&T wireless
Huawei Technologies. for DMC
PCCW Limited for snaap!
ZTE for ZTE Quadruple Play Solution

Best Subscriber Growth Achievement
Recognizes an operator, service provider, ISP or content provider brand that has achieved significant growth in its subscribers for a managed IPTV services during 2008.

Shortlisted:
AT&T, USA for U-verse
Portugal Telecom for Meo
Shanghai Media Group, China for BesTV

Best Hybrid Broadcast-IP Video Delivery Solution or Service
Recognizes an operator, network provider, solution provider or ISP for a video delivery service or solution which supports the delivery of video over both the IP and non-IP video networks in
parallel.

Shortlisted:
EchoStar Europe for 900 series DVR
IP Vision for FetchTV
Pace for + le Cube for Canal+
Telenor Satellite Broadcasting for CHECI
Verimatrix for VCAS for DVB

Best IPTV Service Delivery Platform or Client Software
Recognizes an IPTV Service Delivery Platforms or Client Software that support IP-based video delivered via a managed private network.

Shortlisted:
Amino Communications for AmiNET130M IPTV STB
ANT for Cypher for Digital Media 2.0
Ericsson AB for IMS IPTV middleware
Mariner Osmosys for Open Standard middleware (OSM)
Sigma Systems for Sigma Residential Video Solution

Best Cable IPTV Technology
This category recognizes technology and service solutions that help cable operators deliver IP video services over traditional hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) infrastructure. The category also covers
technologies that support the unification of HFC video infrastructure with new, IP-based videoover-fibre, video-over-xDSL or video-over-broadband-wireless access networks.

Shortlisted:
GoBackTV, Inc. for RetroVue Cable IPTV Solution with CMTS-Bypass
IneoQuest for VeriFrame Technology
Mixed Signals, Inc. for Sentry
RGB Networks for Broadcast Network Processor
Symmetricom for V-Factor® Q-1200 Headend Analyzer

Best Internet TV Technology/Solution
Recognizes technologies or solutions relating to video that is available via the public Internet

Shortlisted:
ADB for ADB-2810W
Brightcove for Online video platform
Edgeware AB Harmonic for Harmonic LIVEcut
Widevine Technologies for Cypher for Digital Media 2.0

Special Merit Award for Outstanding Industry Contribution
Recognises an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the development of the IPTV industry.

As this is Award is for an individual, there will be no shortlist, but the winner will be announced at the Gala Evening

Promotional Opportunities
There are a number of high-profile sponsorship opportunities available throughout the IPTV Awards 2009 that offer your company significant market exposure before and during the event. For further details contact Joanna Jones on +44 20 7017 4801, joanna.jones@informa.com