Briefs

Comcast will test a new service from Nielsen Entertainment to measure video-on-demand (VOD) usage by its digital cable customers. Nielsen’s On Demand reporting service is a Web-based system that aggregates and anonymously reports VOD transactions in real time, allowing Nielsen to interpret viewing trends. Comcast, which says it delivered 1.4 billion on-demand programs to customers in 2005, expects to begin testing the system later in the first quarter.

Satellite operator Intelsat has signed a deal with Qualcomm’s MediaFLO USA subsidiary to provide Ku-band capacity on its Americas-8 satellite. MediaFLO will use the Intelsat capacity to deliver content to terrestrial transmitter sites for distribution to mobile phones equipped to receive the MediaFlo service, which is expected to include live streaming video and audio, short-form content, and IP datacasting. MediaFLO is just one of the new platforms being targeted by Intelsat, which is also building an IPTV platform in Maryland to deliver programming to telcos launching video services.