TiVo to support 'as needed' HDTV through new adapters

In an effort to give CATV providers more flexibility in using their network capacity for HDTV, broadband, and digital phone, TiVo-branded DVRs will be outfitted with new adapter technology.

In a deal announced today, several makers of external switched digital technology (SDT) tuning adapters -- including Motorola and Cisco -- are submitting their products for testing at CableLabs. Essentially, SDT lets cable providers send individual channels to customers on an "as needed" basis, rather than broadcasting all channels to all subscribers all of the time.

Meanwhile, TiVo has modified its software for both the TiVO Series3 and TiVO HD DVRs to communicate with these STD adapters, officials of TiVO and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) said in a statement.

Once the modified software has been verified by CableLabs, TiVo will make the software upgrade available to subscribers through a regularly scheduled update.
Users will need to use the external tuning adapters, though, to specify to the cable companies which channels they want to receive.

After the testing is wrapped up, the new SDT tuning adapters are expected to be offered by Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and Cablevision in areas where SDT is being deployed.

The adapters will also be designed to support some non-TiVo consumer devices, such as HDTVs that work with cable cards instead of external set top boxes.

The cable providers and TiVo have promised to work together to tell customers about the availability of new external adapters, and to ease installation of the new adapters for consumers. TiVo officials have also said that they don't expect cable companies to charge an extra fee for the adapters.