Microsoft yesterday announced a new name for its IPTV platform—Microsoft Mediaroom—that is also available for use as a consumer brand by its IPTV customers, all of whom are major telecom service providers. The company also unveiled new functionality for its IPTV customers.

The new brand may or may not become widely known in the consumer market, admitted Christine Heckart, general manager of worldwide marketing for Microsoft TV, the division of the company that creates the IPTV product. “We have just now made it available to our customers, and it’s up to them how they use it or whether they use it,” she said.

Microsoft didn’t initially believe its Microsoft TV name was a good consumer brand, Heckart said, but one European customer—T-Online in France, now part of Neuf—asked to use a Microsoft-branded product name to launch its service. That lead Microsoft to do some research on the branding idea, which showed Microsoft tested very strongly with consumers as a brand associated with innovative technology.

Microsoft’s brand is obviously well-known, said Vince Vittore, an analyst for Yankee Group. “But the ultimate question is whether the name carries any weight with the TV-viewing public,” he said. “It is mostly associated with other things.”

Microsoft may be seen as an older, stodgier company compared to Apple or Google—especially among younger consumers, he added. “The one advantage is Microsoft represents new and innovative things among the older group of consumers, who are not only early adopters but also are able to pay for new services,” Vittore said. “Everybody markets to teens and younger people, but they aren’t the ones paying the bills.”

Microsoft Mediaroom is launching with some new features as well, including Home Media Sharing, said Ed Graczyk, director of marketing communications for Microsoft.

“Home Media Sharing will allow consumers to access and play back digital photos or digital music from your IPTV service when those things are sitting on a PC with Microsoft XP or Microsoft Vista,” he said. “There will be an option on the menu that says ‘my photos’ or ‘my music,’ and you can choose from directories of music or photos. This is the next step in this vision of connected entertainment.”

In addition, Microsoft is incorporating a browser in the client software, he said. “Up to now, we have enabled some browser-type technology,” Graczyk said. “This now allows a local browser, so you can have different live video screens on at once, and you can enable personal video portals or multiview sports.”