Marking its first launch on a video platform that is not powered by Ericsson Mediaroom, ZoneTV said it has integrated and debuted its first interactive app on DirecTV’s system.

That app, Santa Tracker, arrives amid the holiday season and is being integrated with DirecTV’s electronic program guide. The app supports several interactive elements and components, including a Christmas Countdown Calendar, Holiday-themed movies, “Rudolph Radio,” multiple games, and English- and Spanish-language read-along books and sign-alongs. On Christmas Eve, the app will also show a global map that children can use to tracks the Santa Claus’s progress.

“Combining elements of on-demand, interactivity into a very robust experience, kids can come back continuously,” Jeff Weber, ZoneTV’s CEO, said, hopeful that Santa Tracker is the first of many apps it will offer on the DirecTV platform.

RELATED: Jeff Weber Named CEO of ZoneTV

ZoneTV, a company formerly known as ES3, got its start by integrating apps with Mediaroom, the IPTV middleware platform that Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in the fall of 2013. In addition to AT&T U-verse TV, ZoneTV also has footholds on Mediaroom-powered video platforms from Telefónica, MTS, Hawaiian Telecom, Telus, Frontier Communications and CenturyLink.

ZoneTV, which notched a $4.1 million seed round led by Best Funds about a year ago, has been pushing ahead on a plan to expand beyond Mediaroom. Its launch on DirecTV, acquired by AT&T in July 2015, is its first launch outside of Mediaroom.

RELATED: AT&T Clinches DirecTV Deal

Weber, an exec who previously helped to lead the U-verse division at AT&T, said the Christmas-themed app can run on DirecTV’s HR44 receiver and above, giving it access to the bulk of the boxes/receivers that have been deployed by the satellite operator.

Weber said ZoneTV’s experience in porting “digital-first” apps and content to the set-top is transferable to a wide range of pay TV operator ecosystems.

ZoneTV hasn’t announced where it intends to land next, but possible candidates could include platforms such as TiVo, Comcast’s X1, as well as the next-gen video serving being developed and deployed by Charter Communications in partnership with ActiveVideo. AT&T is also working on a next-gen architecture (subscription required) that aims to bring unity to its IPTV and satellite TV platforms.

RELATED: Arris, Charter Close $135M ActiveVideo Acquisition

“We’ll be able to play in multiple operating systems,” Weber said. “We have really deep expertise in taking digital content into an operator’s environment,” he added, noting that ZoneTV is in talks with “some of the largest cable providers.”

ZoneTV is also moving ahead on a strategy to create “dynamic channels” that can be integrated with an MVPD’s set-top box-based programming guide. Weber said he expects to have more detail to share at CES 2017, which gets underway in January in Las Vegas. 

Pushing ahead with plans announced in August, Windstream this week said it has launched Kinetic TV, its IP-based pay TV offering, to more than 50,000 homes across 13 communities in North Carolina.

RELATED: Windstream Merging with EarthLink

The service, which runs on Windstream’s fiber network in the area, is also powered by Ericsson Mediaroom, the platform it acquired from Microsoft in 2013.

Windstream’s rollout in North Carolina includes Albemarle, Badin, China Grove, Concord, Harrisburg, Hemby Bridge, Indian Trail, Kannapolis, Matthews, Mooresville, Mt. Pleasant, New London and Oakboro.

Windstream subs can bundle Kinetic TV with its phone and Internet service. Its “Kinetic Preferred Bundle” paired with a 1-Gbps service runs $99.99 per month for the first year.

Windstream has also launched Kinetic TV in Lincoln, Neb.; Lexington, Ky., and Sugar Land, Texas.

The company, which also resells and bundles pay TV services from Dish Network, lost about 36,000 digital video subs in Q3, ending the period with about 329,000.

Windstream said it has moved ahead with the launch of its IP-delivered Kinetic TV service in Sugar Land, Texas, where it faces off with incumbent MSO Comcast.

Windstream, which offers the service there to more than 30,000 homes in there, announced plans to launch the service to the affluent Houston suburb back in February.

Windstream’s pay TV service runs on a fiber-based network using Arris-made wireless whole-home HD-DVRs powered by Ericsson Mediaroom, the IPTV middleware platform that  Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in 2013.

Windstream has also launched Kinetic TV in Lincoln, Neb.; and Lexington, Ky., where it competes with Time Warner Cable.

Windstream is bundling Kinetic TV with its high-speed and telephone services, or offering it as a standalone starting at $39.99 per month.

Among the service combos, “Bundle 1” ties different TV tiers with a 25 Mbps Internet service for prices starting at $59.98 (with a “Basic” TV) package, while the triple-play, also with a 25-Meg broadband offering, starts at $64.98 per month. Pricing on its “Select” and “Preferred” TV bundles require a 12-month agreement.

Windstream also offers a 1-Gig broadband service in Sugar Land.

Windstream has announced plans to  launch Kinetic TV, its new IP-based TV service, to more than 30,000 homes in Sugar Land, Texas, where it will tangle with incumbent cable operator Comcast.

Windstream plans to launch the service in the affluent Houston suburb  in the second quarter, following up on earlier Kinetic TV launches in two Time Warner Cable markets: Lincoln, Neb.; and Lexington, Ky.

Running on a fiber-based network, Kinetic TV is powered by Ericsson Mediaroom and an Arris-made wireless whole-home HD-DVR.

Windstream also bundles Dish Network service with its high-speed Internet offerings. 

Frontier Communications  is gearing up to launch FrontierTV, an IPTV service, to select parts of the Durham, N.C., area in January using the telco’s copper and fiber networks.

According to Telecompetitor, Frontier’s coming linear and VOD pay TV offering will leverage lessons learned in some acquired AT&T U-verse and FiOS TV markets and apply them to its incumbent markets, starting with Durham, where it will grapple for video supremacy against Time Warner Cable, AT&T GigaPower, and newcomer Google Fiber.

Dennis Bloss, Frontier VP and GM for the Durham market, told the publication that video will become an important part of the bundle in the market.  “Offering video changes our take rates and without a video product, it’s hard to compete with broadband only,” Bloss told Telecompetitor, which notes that Frontier will base its IPTV service there on  Ericsson Mediaroom, the platform Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in September 2013.

The offering will feature a wireless HD-DVR with six tuners, enough storage for 500 hours of HD video, support for 4K, and a lineup of more than 630 channels. Frontier will complement it with a TV Everywhere app for web browsers, tablets and smartphones.

Frontier has not announced pricing, but noted that customers will be able to bundle it with voice and data starting at under $70 per month.

Frontier has been active on the video front in other ways. Earlier this year, it began to promote a new offering called FreedomTV that’s targeted cord-cutters and broadband-only subs that leans on TiVo’s Roamio OTA model and starts at $20 per month.  Subs who take the FreedomTV option can also get a TiVo Mini (an IP client to access service on an additional TV) or the TiVo Stream (a streaming sidecar that can deliver live TV and recorded shows to mobile devices) for an additional $9.99 per month.

Enrique Rodriguez, a former Cisco Systems and Microsoft exec who most recently was with Sirius XM, has been named executive vice president and chief technical officer for AT&T, the company confirmed.

In that role, he’ll oversee both U-verse and DirecTV and help to lead up the technical integration of those services,Variety first reported, noting that former DirecTV CTO Rômulo Pontual left after AT&T closed its merger with DirecTV in July. AT&T also confirmed Pontual's departure. 

Regarding integration, AT&T has tapped Ericsson to help out, selecting the vendor to “enhance” the telco’s TV platform and work with AT&T to evolve its satellite and wireline TV platform. Last month, AT&Tannounced (subscription required) that it would use a derivative of DirecTV’s gateway-client architecture to establish a more uniform, cloud-based video platform for the combined company. AT&T's U-verse platform is currently powered by Ericsson Mediaroom (Ericsson acquired Mediaroom from Microsoft in September 2013). 

Rodriiguez, formerly the EVP of operations, products and connected vehicle at Sirius XM, left in July, and was replaced by James A. Cady.

Before that, Rodriguez ran Cisco’s Service Provider Video Technology Group as SVP and GM, but left in August 2011, about year after taking on that post. He joined Cisco in June 2010 after running Microsoft’s TV, video and music business. Before joining Microsoft in 2003, Rodriguez spent more  than 20 years at Thomson/RCA.

Peter Mihan, an exec late of Ericsson and Microsoft, has been named assistant vice president of video product and sales at Frontier Communications.

He joins Frontier from Ericsson, where he spent the last two years driving TV/Media portfolio sales and business development initiatives with strategic network service providers in North America for clients that included Frontier. Before that, he spent nearly 19 years  at Microsoft in various enterprise sales, marketing and business development roles.

Mihan joined Microsoft’s Mediaroom division in 2005, responsible for selling the platform to tier 1 operators in North America. Ericsson acquired Mediaroom, an IPTV platform, from Microsoft in September 2013. Frontier currently uses Mediaroom to power its pay TV service in Connecticut. Frontier is also working with TiVo on a video product centered on TiVo’s Roamio OTA product that will be aimed at broadband-only subs.

“I’m thrilled to have Peter join the Frontier TV Product Management Team,” Stephen LeVan, Frontier’s SVP of video content and delivery, said in a statement. “ We have an enormous opportunity ahead of us to grow revenues, innovate our video portfolio (across multiple bandwidth profiles) and delight our customers in the process. Peter brings a wealth of experience in video deployments, architecture, marketing and sales and will drive Frontier Video Services to the next level."

Mihan holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and is based in New Haven, Conn.

CenturyLink has turned up its IP-delivered Prism TV service in Salt Lake City, where it will now compete for video subs with incumbent cable op Comcast and DirecTV and Dish Network (and Sling TV).  Google Fiber is also getting ready to launch its mix of 1-Gig and pay TV services in the Salt Lake City area.

CenturyLink said the launch of Prism TV in Salt Lake City follows its deployment last year of fiber-fed 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) broadband to residential and business customers in Salt Lake City and other Utah communities.

The launch follows a recent Prism TV debut in Portland, Ore., where CenturyLink also faces off with Comcast. Prism TV, which features a wireless set-top box, whole-home DVR, access to a mobile TV Everywhere app, and VOD, has also been launched in La Crosse, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee, Fla. (and areas covering central and southwest Florida; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver, Colorado Springs, and Highlands Ranch, Colo.

CenturyLink added 8,000 Prism TV subs in the first quarter of 2015, ending the quarter with more than 249,000 -- a penetration rate of 10.2%. The company also added 73,000 homes to its addressable TV footprint in the quarter, expanding that total to 2.4 million.  CenturyLink expects to expand Prism TV to about 425,000 additional homes through the rest of 2015.

Prism TV currently uses the Ericsson Mediaroom platform, but is developing a next-gen video platform that is including an evaluation of the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global, in the process. 

"Prism TV is different from other television services in Salt Lake City. It delivers a digital connection to the home, providing a combination of interactive features, a wireless set-top box and a large selection of HD channels," said Jeremy Ferkin, CenturyLink’s vice president of Utah operations, in a statement. “Prism TV service is complemented by our aggressive fiber broadband deployment in Utah that includes Internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second."

Windstream picked tax day to launched an IP-based pay TV service over its fiber network in Lincoln, Neb., where it faces off with incumbent MSO Time Warner Cable.

Windstream is initially offering the TV service, called Kinetic, to about 50,000 homes. It’s powered by Ericsson Mediaroom platform, features VOD, and is being offered on souped up Arris-made whole-home, wireless HD-DVRs. Watch this video to see more on Kinetic.

Windstream said it is not charging extra fees for professional installations, HD service, or its whole-home DVR.

Windstream has lined up a batch of no-contract bundles:

Bundle 1 -- TV + Internet

Basic: $59.98/month

Select: $104.98/month

Preferred: $124.98 per month

Bundle 2 – TV, Internet and Phone

Basic: $64.98/month

Select: $109.98/month

Preferred: $129.98/month

Rates for a TV-only service are “available upon request,” said Windstream, which will roll Kinetic to other markets later this year.  Windstream provides residential service in parts of 18 states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

It also offers a video service bundle through a partnership with Dish Network, and confirmed last fall, when it announced plans for Kinetic, that it will continue to support the Dish service option in all markets.

For Ericsson, Windstream is a win that comes after it rolled out multiscreen upgrades for Mediaroom in the wake of its acquisition of the IP video platform from Microsoft in 2013.

“We’re extremely excited to launch Kinetic in Lincoln,” said David Redmond, president of small business and consumer at Windstream, said in a statement. “Over the last year, we have heard loudly and clearly that this community is excited and eager for an alternative TV service. Windstream is confident that residents that sign up for Kinetic will find a highly interactive experience and a smarter way to watch TV than cable or satellite.”