Canadian-based Arqiva, which is the UK’s largest broadcast transmission provider, has purchased the technology assets behind Kangaroo, the BBC/ITV/Channel 4 initiative that was derailed by regulators. See this article on StreamingMediaGlobal.com for more information.

Microsoft officially launches at an event in San Francisco on Friday. But why wait until then to find out the latest and greatest? Ben Waggoner, Microsoft’s principal video strategist for Silverlight, sat down with our Troy Dreier to talk about some of the leading features—including out-of-browser playback—in the new Silverlight 3. Check it out here.

Voting opens today for the inaugural Streaming Media European Readers’ Choice Awards, the only awards program in the online media industry that lets end users have their say about which products and services are their favourites.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve received a deluge of nominations, and from that list we’ve narrowed it down to a total of more than 125 nominees in 12 categories:

• Transcoding Solution—Hardware, software, or cloud-based solution for encoding and transcoding content

• Online Video Platform—SaaS platforms that enable customizable publication, syndication, distribution, and monetisation of video on the web

• UGC Platform—User-generated content sites and services

• TV over IP Solution—Set-top box, over-the-top, and “catch-up” solutions for delivering television content online

• Reporting, Analytics—Services that offer metrics that, among other things, help content publishers better understand who’s watching, when they’re watching, where they’re watching, and for how long

• Streaming Services Provider—Provider of end-to-end streaming services, from capture and encoding to delivery and distribution

• Video Advert Platform—Technologies and services that allow for targeted ad insertion into online video content

• Webcast Platform—Hardware, software, and SaaS solutions for delivering live web events

• Delivery Network—Edge or peer-to-peer content delivery providers

• Music & Audio Delivery Solution—Music download services, internet radio, and music sharing

• Best Live Webcast of 2009—Most impressive and successful live web event

• Best Streaming Innovation of 2009—The “catch-all” category, for simply the coolest, most innovative streaming product, service, or event of the year.

Click here to see the nominees in each category and register to vote. Don’t see your favourite listed? Please contact with the company name, product name, and address, as well as a brief explanation of why you feel it deserves a place among the nominees.

You will be able to vote for one nominee in each category, with the voting open until 21 August. We’ll publish the finalists—the top 3 vote-getters in each category—on 7 September, and then announce the winner in each category at Streaming Media Europe on 15 October, as well as on the website and in the Winter European edition of Streaming Media magazine.