Rebecca Day

Verizon will upgrade FiOS subscribers next month to version 1.7 of the service’s operating system in seamless downloads to set-top boxes, executives told reporters Wednesday in New York. An upgrade highlight is a bidirectional side-loading feature to allow subscribers to connect any media device to their home networks and have video, music and pictures from those devices available for viewing on a FiOS-enabled TV, they said. In September, media from products connecting to networked PCs by USB -- such as digital cameras, thumb drives, cell phones and BlackBerrys -- will also be viewable on the TV, the executives said. The FiOS software will recognize the devices automatically, no setup up by the customer required, they said. Verizon said it’s firming up relationships with Internet video providers for direct access to video Web sites from the FiOS menu. The carrier said it already has deals with blip.tv, Veoh and Dailymotion. Verizon said it’s also adding set-top-box addressability with the upgrade to version 1.7. Advertisers will be able to target ads to subscribers by their locations, executives said. Verizon will release its Iris development kit for FiOS widgets in late October, through a Web site just for this purpose, to anyone who wants to write and publish an application using the LUA programming language, they said. Applications can be added only with Verizon’s approval. They can be free or for a price. They'll be available under the Widgets Bazaar section of the FiOS menu. The FiOS network passed 10.3 million homes in 16 states June 30, executives said. The service has 2.5 million subscribers and about 8 million set-top boxes in use, they said. FiOS offerings include 115 HD channels in all markets, 15,000 monthly on- demand SD titles and 1,400 on-demand HD titles, they said.

Journalists erred in reporting that a 70-year-old man shot his TV set in frustration Feb. 17 after it went dark because of the analog cutoff, said Police Chief Carl Francis of Webb City, Mo., where the incident took place. Francis confirmed that Walter Hoover had fired at his TV and was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a firearm. But reports blaming the incident on the DTV transition were “100 percent false,” Francis told us Tuesday. “We've been saying from the beginning that Mr. Hoover shot that television set because his wife failed to pay the $94 cable bill and they shut his cable off,” Francis said. “It had nothing to do with the DTV conversion. He didn’t even have an antenna. He had cable.” Francis speculated that the story may have gained momentum because KODE-TV, ABC’s affiliate in nearby Joplin, Mo., made the digital switch Feb. 17. It was the only station in the market that did, he said.

When the annual Future of TV conference was held seven years ago, talk centered around reality TV, global issues and interactivity. At this year’s event, which opened Tuesday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan, the focus is on revenue challenges, Internet video, TiVo, and yes, interactivity.

Panasonic will have tru2way TVs on the market before the holiday selling season, said Senior Vice President Robert Perry. Speaking Wednesday to reporters at CEDIA in Denver, he said the OCAP-compliant TVs will deliver all cable services without a set-top box. On-demand video, pay-per- view and the ability to order services will be among the offerings. Perry described tru2way as providing the “Holy Grail in the television business: TVs that connect directly to the cable system and make all content from cable system available on TV without a box.” Panasonic has worked with CableLabs on the technology. With tru2way, the cable industry is opening its digital video interface for innovation and development, said Dick Green, president of CableLabs. “It’s truly an open standard, is Java-based and uses the same API sets as Blu-ray,” he said. “All the cable operators in the U.S. have adopted this as their technology, which means all the cable systems throughout the country work on a common interface, and all the MSOs are upgrading their systems to support this.”