Tivo Offers Tv, Movies, Games ... And Pizzas

[Forest Lake]

AUSTRALIANS will finally be able to do their shopping at the touch of a button on their television remote control when TiVo launches basic food and grocery shopping services by March next year.

And Seven Media Group, which owns the licence to TiVo in Australia, has struck a revolutionary distribution deal with video chain Blockbuster to give TiVo owners a free movie every week, sent via the internet directly to their TiVo device.

The moves are part of the second phase of TiVo's launch, with the product now seeking to position itself as a digital media device rather than as a digital video recorder.

TiVo is also unveiling new services for the first time, including interactive games and information services (almost all of which will be advertising-funded) along with TV and short film content.

By March 1, TiVo owners will have access to a catalogue of more than 100 movies at any one time. Some will be free from Seven's library and sponsored by advertisers, and some will be video-on-demand new releases offered on a pay-per-view basis through Blockbuster.

The TiVo device, which launched in Australia in July, also provides access to more than 18 digital terrestrial TV channels as the free-to-air TV groups launch them over the next year, plus the ability to record their programs and access to additional movie and TV content.

TiVo boss Robbee Minicola said TiVo's owners would also have access to a range of broadband internet services including grocery and food shopping -- such as the ability to order pizzas -- by March next year.

Ms Minicola, who heads the Seven Media Group's Hybrid Television arm (which operates TiVo in Australia), said TiVo would bridge the digital content divide for people who did not subscribe to pay-TV.

"The 70 per cent of Australians that don't have pay-TV were the have-nots, and now they're the haves," she said. "We're saying with TiVo, you enjoy those digital channels, but we're going to follow that with a buffet of broadband content that is in the main advertising-funded.

"Some premium services will be pay-per view but there is no subscription fee."

Many of the new services will be free to the consumer and funded by advertising -- once people have spent $699 to buy a TiVo device and paid for a broadband internet connection.

The retailers that carry TiVo -- which now include Dick Smith and JB Hi-Fi, as well as Harvey Norman -- have been instructed only to sell TiVos to people who already have broadband.

The new services are expected to pre-empt access to broadband internet services via pay-TV providers such as Foxtel.

"We're on a completely new battlefield," Ms Minicola said. "We're not a personal video recorder and we're not Foxtel. We're a digital media device."

Ms Minicola would not reveal how many TiVos had been sold since it launched, but Media understands TiVo is being repositioned as a digital media device to help reach its targets, reported to be 50,000 units a year.

The new services will begin to roll out from November 17.

But while movie downloads -- free of the monthly subscription costs of pay-TV -- may be attractive to users, one danger is consumers incurring big download charges from their internet service providers.

She said Hybrid Television was approaching internet service providers to ask them to provide an unmetered download service for TiVo devices -- termed TiVo Uncapped -- separate from a home's computer connection.

Ad-funded TiVo content will follow the internet advertising model, where commercial breaks of no more than two ads appear before, in the middle of, and at the end of programs.

[Forest Lake]

Ok so if Tivo and Blockbuster have struck a deal and can provide new release movies, I wonder how long it will be till Foxtel are allowed to also provide new release movies??

[loony]

I wonder how long it will be till Foxtel are allowed to also provide new release movies??

Foxtel want to be able to offer movies as soon as they can however the movie studios want to protect DVD sales.

Because of this foxtel are currently only allowed to air movies after waiting at least a week form the DVD launch.

[pgdownload]

Wonder what the file size of the movies will be. A reasonable resolution one these days is about 1Gb. I wonder how many have plans to match this?

Regards

Peter Gillespie

[crippstor]

And if you want surround sound it's more like 1.37Gb.

[ShadySoldier]

how hard would it be to have different sizes? 4gb, 3, 2, 1, 700mb some with surround sound some without....

Not that hard.