TiVo Said to Prepare New DVR Platform for Getting Web Search Results

TiVo is expected next week to introduce a DVR platform to search for shows on YouTube and other sites, an analyst said. TiVo executives, expected to demonstrate the new platform at a news conference March 2 in New York, weren’t available Thursday to comment. The technology probably will provide users with Web search results alongside broadcast, cable TV and pay-per-view listings, said Tony Wible, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott.

The new platform could be central to TiVo’s plans for a new HD service with DirecTV, probably starting by midyear. TiVo has been expected to expand tests with Comcast and Cox Communications, but progress has been delayed by technical problems. And TiVo and Best Buy are expected to ship in the first half jointly developed Insignia LCD TVs with a built-in DVR along with standalone products.

TiVo already sells the HD XL DVR that has access to Amazon, Netflix and YouTube. The model was being promoted Thursday on the company’s website at $499 with a $100 discount. The device allows up to 150 hours of HD programming to be recorded. The entry-level HD model, which allows recording of 20 hours of HD content, was being offered after a $50 price cut at $249.

TiVo’s middleware and flash-based user interface will be at the heart of Virgin Media’s next-generation cable TV platform scheduled to launch in the U.K. this year, Virgin CEO Neil Burkett said Thursday in an earnings call. Virgin said it has 862,000 DVR subscribers, 112,700added in Q4. The company’s fiber network will be the “backbone” of the new platform, Burkett said. The network provides broadband service at download speeds up 100 Mbps, company officials said. About 98 percent of Virgin 4.1 broadband subscribers get download speeds of 10 Mbps or more, company officials said. The 100 Mbps service is being tested in Coventry, U.K., and will begin a national rollout late this year, Burkett said. Virgin also has 41,400 subscribers to a 50 Mbps service, 18,000 added in Q4. Virgin is testing 200 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upstream speeds, company officials said.

TiVo’s platform will give Virgin “not just a first mover” but a “significant advantage” over its competitors, while allowing users to watch HD programming, record it or play a 3D game on the same network, Burkett said. TiVo also will be a pivotal part of Virgin’s video-on-demand (VoD) service. The number of Virgin’s 3.7 million cable TV subscribers watching VoD programming increased 300,000 from a year earlier, the company said. Virgin’s customers watched on-demand content 74 million times each month in Q4, the company said. Virgin also has signed an agreement with Best Buy to promote VoD, broadband and other services at the chain’s new U.K. stores, which are scheduled to open in the spring. Virgin will turn off its analog cable TV service in April. It has 87,000 subscribers left on the analog service, Burkett said.