Microsoft has enhanced its Mediaroom IPTV platform with "Anytime" features that allow viewers to watch TV on their own time. In addition to existing Mediaroom features, such as video on demand, DVR Anywhere and Remote Digital Video Recording, the new Mediaroom Anytime features enable viewers to access previously aired shows directly from the Interactive Program Guide or immediately restart currently airing shows without any preplanning or prior DVR recording. 
In addition, Microsoft announced that the Mediaroom platform has reached nearly 2.5 million subscriber homes worldwide, an increase of more than 1.5 million new connections in the past year.
New Mediaroom Anytime feature set, service providers now have the ability to offer their customers the following benefits:
- Restart Anytime -- the ability to rewind or restart the currently airing program from any point, regardless of whether the show is being recorded or the TV was switched off or tuned to another channel.
- Live Anytime -- the ability to scroll backward in the Interactive Program Guide to watch previously aired programs. These previously aired programs also can be made accessible through the service provider's video on demand library.
- Download Anytime -- enables viewers to download on-demand movies and programs to their set-top boxes so they can watch them anytime regardless of bandwidth constraints. For example, viewers could watch high-definition programs on low-bandwidth networks.
SingTel plans to trial Mediaroom Anytime features -- Restart Anytime and Live Anytime -- and aims to offer the service to its mio TV subscribers in 2009.
"Television is no longer a one-way broadcast experience. With powerful software and network connectivity TV is evolving to deliver richer, more immersive ways for consumers to watch anything, anytime and anywhere," said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the Connected TV Business Group at Microsoft. "These latest developments of the Mediaroom platform demonstrate how Microsoft is leading this transformation from broadcast to connected TV and shaping the consumer experience and expectation of TV."http://www.microsoftmediaroom.com
