Ericsson in talks to buy Microsoft's IPTV business: report

Ericsson is in talks to buy Microsoft's IPTV business, known as Media Room, which is used by phone companies such as AT&T to deliver television over the Internet, Bloomberg yesterday reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The transaction is likely to be announced within the next few weeks, Bloomberg said.
Post sale of Media Room, Microsoft would focus on delivering TV through its Xbox game console, the report added.

Launched in 2007, Microsoft's Media Room is an end-to-end internet protocol television (IPTV) platform that enables pay TV operators to deliver TV services to multiple screens and connected devices.

The services can be delivered to the consumers on a range of devices inside and outside the home, including wired and WiFi set top boxes, Xbox 360, PCs, tablets, smartphones and other connected devices -over both operator's managed IP networks as well as Over The Top unmanaged networks.

As of November 2012, Media Room had more than 22 million set-top boxes deployed in more than 11 million households through 40 of the world's leading operators, making it the largest deployed commercial IPTV middleware platform with a 23 per cent global market share.