Here's an interesting one. Australia's AUSTAR (a pay-TV provider, for those not in the know) is seemingly not in any hurry whatsoever to do as staunch rival Foxtel did and begin offering HD to its customers. Rather than catching up to the competition (and splurging on an investment), AUSTAR is pinching its pennies. According to the company's chief executive, he doesn't feel "a huge amount of pressure" to embrace high-def, suggesting that the increase in customers from the addition of high-definition isn't worth the steep cost. Of course, he did admit that HD would likely be in the carrier's future, but probably not until "mid-2010" or later. C'mon people, how many times do the experts have to tell you? Build it (first), and they will come.

While we knew both FOX and TNT were destined to land in Germany at some point, the latter won't be arriving until January of 2009. For those unaware, FOX has actually already launched in Deutschland, but you can bet your bottom dollar, er, Euro, that TNT is hoping to be a formidable competitor. TNT Serie, as it will be dubbed, will unfortunately be aired in 16:9 24 / 7, which likely means at least some content will be shown in stretch-o-vision. Still, we're hearing that the programming lineup will be quite robust, with re-runs of US favorites 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, Everybody Loves Raymond, Monk, King of Queens and quite a few others. As for carriers, it seems as if discussions are ongoing with a number of cable and IPTV providers, but nothing definitive has been uttered just yet.

[Thanks, Chris]

In case you're not content with just keeping your current cable / satellite / fiber TV service and using the recently launched ZvBox to pull in content from the web, a new startup is aiming to satisfy your bizarre desires. In what's potentially the most befuddling launch of the year, said firm is looking to introduce its 1TB set-top-box to consumers on a city-by-city basis. Put simply (or, as simply as possible), the box will fetch content from a number of places: the built-in OTA receiver will grab locals, and it will use the owner's broadband internet connection to snag IPTV material and web-based content (YouTube, Hulu, etc.). Sezmi plans to launch the product with "3G and DSL" telcos that don't currently have a way to offer a triple-play package, and while some sources say that monthly fees will be as low as "half" of a typical cable / satellite bill, we've also seen Phil Wiser, co-founder, chairman and president, quoted as saying that it will be "roughly comparable" to its rivals. Hit up the links below for loads more info, and join us as we sit back and wait for this entirely-too-complex endeavor to implode.

[Via PC Magazine]

Don't look now, but Viasat Broadcasting has just launched its first high-definition offerings (including two Viasat-branded premium HDTV channels, TV1000 HD and Viasat Sport HD) on its Nordic satellite pay-TV platform. Reportedly, TV1000 HD and National Geographic HD will be available in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, while Viasat Sport HD makes its debut in Sweden, Norway and Finland; as for Danish subscribers, they'll have access to TV2 Sport HD. Unfortunately, fetching said programming won't come cheap, as it'll demand SEK/NOK/DKK 99 per month (between $15 and $20) in addition to the currently undisclosed HD set-top-box upgrade cost. Speaking of which, two STBs will initially be available: a Viasat Plus HD PVR box from Pace and a standard Viasat HD box made by Samsung, both of which use NDS middleware / content security and support 720p / 1080i. And we thought we were starved for HD...