Switzerland's national public broadcaster SRG SSR idée suisse will this week launch its on demand film service at the Locarno International Film Festival.

By mid-October, consumers can get their hands on the new MSN TV 2 Internet and Media Player, based on Windows CE operating system. The new device is the next generation successor to Microsoft's WebTV product. Users can listen to Windows Media-compatible music, view digital photos, watch videos, surf the Internet and e

The technology enables the content provider to leverage IP-based video transport, ensuring that only authorized users can access subscription-based programming.

On the surface, the U.S. sales figures from the first several days of this current holiday season are looking way up for HD DVD proponents, who captured slightly more than 60 percent of the next-gen player market against Blu-ray Disc in these early days. But as usual, when the number crunchers put aside those standalone figures and add in the number of PlayStation 3 game consoles sold, Blu-ray comes out the clear leader.

The new service is scheduled to be available worldwide in the first half of the year.