Microsoft TV signs first U.S. indie

Microsoft TV, the preferred brand of many larger telecom incumbents worldwide, has signed its first U.S. independent telco customer, nTelos.

NTelos operates as a rural LEC in Virginia and as a CLEC in West Virginia and some parts of Virginia, as well as operating a wireless network that covers parts of Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. The company is offering Microsoft Mediaroom, the IPTV offering, in the Virginia counties of Botegourt and August, as well as in its headquarters city of Waynesboro, over a fiber-to-the-home network that it is building.

The service will feature up to 250 channels including 18 high-definition channels, as well as multi-room Digital Video Recorders.

“We look forward to providing innovative video services and to giving our customers an excellent choice for television programming,” said nTelos Wireline President David Maccarelli, in a prepared statement. “Powered by Microsoft -- one of the strongest brands in the world and the leading provider of advanced digital television solutions -- nTelos Video provides an outstanding digital TV and entertainment experience for our customers.”

While Microsoft Mediaroom is offered by AT&T, the company has largely left the rural ILEC market to other middleware players such as Minerva, Siemens-Myrio and others.