Amazon announces a new Flash Media streaming and content delivery service.

Targeted at the mid-sized customers (who spend between US$3-5k a month on video/content distribution), this new service is sure to cause ripples in the CDN space.

Cloudfront’s easy integration with other Amazon Web Services is sure to prove appealing to both developers and content providers looking for a simple and easy to way distribute rich media based content.

Microsoft have been previewing an new Xbox LIVE upgrade which gives users the ability to test out some of the new features coming soon to the Xbox.

These include Facebook, Last.fm, Twitter and 1080p streaming. Early reports indicate that the Limelight delivered HD streams are outstanding.

Less than 8 months after launching their Silverlight powered rich media video player, British broadcaster, ITV have dropped Microsoft’s rich streaming platform in favour of the more established, Adobe Flash Player.

According to a recent report from Adobe EMEA Flash Platform Evangelist Andrew Shorten, technical problems experienced by end-users, and the relatively low distribution of the the runtime, are partly to blame for ITV abandoning Microsoft’s rich streaming platform.

This week, at the 2009 IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) trade show in Amsterdam, Adobe Systems announced Flash Access 2.0. Formerly known as Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server (FMRMS), Flash Access is content protection software that lets video and audio authors control how, when, and where their content can be experienced by users – even after download.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is offering tennis fans, live streaming of the 2009 US Open from the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The interactive HD streaming is further enhanced by the offering of a picture-in-picture feature and real-time stats.

The site also leverages IBM’s Flash powered Slam Tracker, which lets users track player progression, schedules and scores for the entire tournament. Slam Tracker’s scoreboard “pushes” point-by-point scoring, live draw results, match and serve stats, player information and tracking, as well as interactive venue maps and live streaming radio.

The Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) are going to start trialing a new streaming service powered by Silverlight, and Internet Information Services (IIS) Smooth Streaming, for UFC #102 on August 29th.

They are still using Flash Media Server for streaming pre-recorded and live events, and have added Silverlight to their streaming client arsenal, in an effort to to reach the broadest possible audience.

Novell is making life easier for Unix and Linux users who wish to view content developed with Microsoft’s Silverlight, with the release this week of the feature-complete Beta Version 2.0 of their open-source Moonlight rich client.

A new white paper has been released, onto the Adobe Developer Center, that presents Adobe Flash Media Server content protection features and best practices, and introduces Adobe Flash Media Rights Management Server.

After a short (but successful) season running with Adobe’s Flash Platform, for their Sunday Night Football Extra interactive streaming video application. The NFL announced that they’ve signed a new deal with NBC which (effectively) passes the streaming video platform gauntlet to Microsoft. Who are set to leverage Silverlight and Smooth Streaming for Sunday Night Football Extra.