TiVo Introduces New Online Services
TiVo has begun a rollout of several online services that will allow customers to access information and even purchase movie tickets directly through their DVR boxes. The new features will be included as part of the standard TiVo service for those with broadband-connected Series2 devices.
To support the new initative, TiVo announced partnerships with online movie site Fandango, Internet radio service Live365, and Yahoo. Yahoo and TiVo had previously joined up in early November, when the two companies said that a new TiVo scheduling feature would be added to the Yahoo TV service.
Along with the partnerships, TiVo also said it would allow subscribers to listen to podcasts directly from the set-top box.
"TiVo forever changed the way people watch TV, making it easy to find and record your favorite programs," TiVo President and CEO Tom Rogers said in prepared remarks. "Now we're extending that ease-of-use to enable our subscribers to easily discover and enjoy online services directly on their television sets."
The new Yahoo services would allow the TiVo subscriber to view their Yahoo Photos slideshows through their televisions. Also, users would be able to view weather and traffic conditions for their local area.
With the Live365 service, TiVo customers can listen to the site's full catalog of both service and user-created Internet radio stations. The same would be true with the podcast feature, which would allow users to peruse a preset list of popular podcasts, or enter the URLs for shows that may not be included in TiVo's listing.
Finally, TiVo has partnered with Fandango to allow users to see what movies are playing at local theaters, as well as read information and reviews on those flicks. Furthermore, users can purchase advance tickets through the service's interface.
"With this exciting new collaboration, consumers can make their moviegoing decisions from the comfort of their living rooms," Fandango President and CEO Art Levitt said. "This alliance furthers our goal of ubiquitous consumer access and to help make the moviegoing experience as easy and convenient as possible."
While the service plans a gradual rollout of the new features, TiVo said it would allow customers to register for a priority list that would put those interested at the top of the queue to receive the upgrade.
No announcement was made as to whether TiVo plans to add more online services in the future, although the company has been offering an SDK to develop software for the TiVo platform since last January.