Toronto - The amount of time Americans spend watching TV and other video content each day is expected to nearly triple over the next five years, matching the amount of time they spend sleeping by 2013, according to a report published on Wednesday by Solutions Research Group. The average U.S. consumer over age 12 with Internet access now spends 6.1 hours daily with video entertainment, up from 4.6 hours in 1996; that number is expected to grow nearly 35% to about 8 hours by 2013.

Toronto, Canada - GlassBOX Television, a provider of cross-platform broadcast and video-on-demand channels, announced on Tuesday that it has raised about $4.9 million in new venture capital financing, led by JLA Ventures.

Washington - Sony Electronics (NYSE: SNE) and six major U.S. cable TV providers have announced an agreement that will enable Sony to develop and sell televisions able to connect directly to cable TV services without the need of a set-top box. The agreement between Sony and cable providers Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Cox, Charter (NASD: CHTR), Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Bright House Networks -- which collectively serve 82% of U.S. cable subscribers -- will allow "two-way" digital TVs and other devices to deliver both standard cable programming and interactive services like pay-per-view and video-on-demand.

London - The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) announced on Wednesday the launch of a new online ratings system for downloadable movies, TV shows and video games. Already signed on for BBFC.online, which so far has provided online certificates for some 700 videos, are Disney, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox.

Belmont, Calif. - Sezmi on Thursday introduced its next-generation television platform, an alternative to cable and satellite services that combines digital over-the-air local broadcasts, broadband-delivered video, and channels beamed to the Sezmi set-top by local TV stations over unused portions of the broadcast spectrum.

New York - Media conglomerate Viacom (NYSE: VIA) announced on Monday that it has formed a joint venture to create a premium TV channel and video-on-demand service that will feature classic and new movies and TV shows from five studios. Scheduled to launch in the fall of 2009, the service will feature programming from Viacom's Paramount and Paramount Vantage, MGM, United Artists and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF).

London - The BBC announced on Wednesday that it will release a version of its BBC iPlayer video-on-demand service for the Nintendo Wii. Once the service goes live, a message will be sent to all Wii consoles in the U.K. connected to the Internet, letting them know about the new feature. The BBC said that the total number of requests for downloads and streams of its programming via the iPlayer was 17.2 million in March, up from 14 million in February and 11.2 million in January.

Los Angeles - Warner Bros. is the first studio to offer some of its titles via video-on-demand services in the U.K. on the same day and date as their DVD releases, Variety reports. The Warner titles will be available for about $7.88 each, and will be available for unlimited viewing for 24 hours from services including Sky Box Office, Virgin, BT Vision and Xbox Live.

Philadelphia - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV provider, said on Wednesday that its On Demand service has now served up more than 7 billion video-on-demand views, and 1 billion viewing hours since 2003. The service offers a library of over 10,000 titles per month. "The numbers speak for themselves...each month our customers watch roughly 40 million movies On Demand," said Derek Harrar, SVP and general manager of video services for Comcast.

San Mateo, Calif. - Akimbo on Wednesday announced that it will shift its focus away from its video-on-demand set-top box business, and instead offer a service that lets content providers publish Web video on their own websites.

Los Angeles - Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC has announced plans to make its primetime TV series available for free viewing on cable, satellite and telco TV video-on-demand services, with the stipulation that viewers will not be able to fast-forward through commercials.

Los Angeles - NxTV, a provider of IP video-on-demand, IPTV and digital in-room entertainment to hotels, on Thursday announced a film and TV video-on-demand licensing agreement with NBC Universal. Los Angeles-based NxTV, which provides its services in hotels including Four Seasons, W Hotels, Mariott and Hyatt, said the deal includes Universal Pictures films in HD, and current TV content the day after it airs nationwide.

Paris - European Film Treasures plans in April to launch a European video-on-demand site that will offer free streaming access to a wealth of rare archive films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The site is being funded in part by the European Union's MEDIA Program, and is headed by Serge Bromberg, founder of Paris-based film restoration firm Lobster Films. A jury will decide on which films from various European countries' archives to include on the site, which will initially offer about 100 titles but eventually expand to as many as 500.

Hollywood - Broadband video-on-demand service MovieFlix.com announced on Tuesday a new download-to-own subscription plan, that allows unlimited movie downloads from its library of over 4,000 titles for $9.95 per month. The MovieFlix.com catalog includes a range of 1930's films, B-movies in the action, sci-fi, martial arts, horror and western genres, classic TV episodes and other fare.

New York - The Nielsen Company this announced the launch of a new video-on-demand audience measurement service, with Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV provider, signing on as the first data provider and customer of the service. Nielsen On Demand Reporting & Analytics (NORA) will aggregate and anonymously report on video-on-demand usage, based on real-time transactions collected at the set-top box level.

Santa Clara, Calif. - Vudu, the maker of a set-top box that delivers movies and other content on-demand over a broadband network, announced on Thursday that it has slashed the price of its basic Vudu box by $100, to $295. The company has licensed content from every major studio and some 22 independent studios and distributors, including dozes of HD titles.

Sioux Falls, S.D. - LodgeNet (NASD: LNET), a provider of in-room VOD and interactive entertainment systems to hotels, announced on Tuesday that it has brought its business units together under the new name, LodgeNet Interactive Corp., and will no longer use the brand names of recent acquisitions On Command and StayOnline. LodgeNet provides its services in more than 1.9 million hotel rooms in 9,300 hotel properties worldwide.

Las Vegas - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV provider, on Tuesday announced plans to launch Wideband, a high-speed download service that promises to deliver full HD movie downloads in just four minutes. "Wideband takes four channels and bonds them together and will enable speeds to go up from 12-16 megabits a second to over 100 megabits a second," Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told Reuters. "If it's as successful as we plan we'll roll it out to tens of millions of home shortly thereafter."

New York - Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has announced the addition of HD video-on-demand to its FiOS TV Internet-based digital TV service. The HD VOD service has launched in select markets with an initial slate of 75 titles; Verizon expects to offer 1,000 HD titles on the service by the end of 2008. The FiOS TV service itself expects to offer over 150 HD channels by the end of 2008.

London - Three U.K. broadcasters -- the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 -- on Tuesday announced plans to launch an online video-on-demand joint venture in 2008, codenamed "Kangaroo." The U.K. service will carry over 10,000 hours of current and archived TV programming, initially made available for streaming and downloading from the Web, both for free, and as rentals and paid downloads.