The latest Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) FiOS Mobile app for the iPad lets customers who subscribe to the company's TV and broadband service stream 75 live TV channels directly to the iPad, so long as they are within reach of their home Wi-Fi signal. The app also serves as a fancy remote control, and lets customers manage their DVR recordings. Verizon also offers a subset of its live TV lineup on the Xbox, but the new app puts it on better competitive footing with Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and Cox Communications Inc. , which also stream video to home-bound iPads. Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) and some of TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO)'s cable partners pull off something similar using separate transcoding devices. (See Comcast Beams Live TV to the iPad, Bright House Brings Live TV to the iPad , Suddenlink Activates TiVo Stream and DirecTV Pipes Live TV to iPads.)

On the heels of a recent staff reduction, Motorola Mobility appears to be cutting back operations further by turning off most of its international websites, including those dedicated to Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa, reports TheNextWeb. (See Google May Cut Deeper at Motorola .)

When trying to open Motorola Mobility's Asia site, for example, visitors are greeted with this message:

Disney Movies Online, a service that lets consumers buy or rent titles from the Disney and Pixar libraries but is incompatible with consoles and Roku Inc. devices, is shutting down on Dec. 31. "Disney Movies Online does not have the flexibility that many users today demand," the company said, according to Digital Media Wire, noting that Disney is expected to continue developing its own cloud-based service based on its own KeyChest technology rather than joining UltraViolet, a platform that lets consumers buy a DVD or Blu-ray title with rights to also stream it on PCs, tablets and smartphones. (See UltraViolet to Open its Rights Locker in Mid-2011 .)

Dutch cable operator Ziggo B.V. has teed up EU1, an on-demand service tailored for area film and TV makers. Under the service's model, the producers get 90 percent of the profits, with the balance going to EU1.

BTIG Research analysts Richard Greenfield and Walt Piecyk got a chance to kick the tires on the recently launched Google Fiber service in Kansas City, Kan., and were impressed with the way the company has been able to integrate the online and traditional video worlds in a way that the stand-alone (and still-struggling) Google TV product has yet to achieve. They concluded that the user interface "still needs work" and that the TV service needs more content (more cable channels and the addition of apps like YouTube), but "believe Google Fiber will accelerate rapidly, changing consumer habits in the territory." (See Google Fiber Starts to Hook Up Customers .)

Here is their slideshow/video recap:



— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable