Virgin Media selects Tivo for next-gen set top boxes

 

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Posted on 25 Nov 2009 at 15:53

Virgin Media, provider of cable TV to million of subscribers across the UK, today announced it will be working with Tivo on its next generation of set top boxes. Tivo were a major pioneer in the development of hard disk-based digital video recorders. The brand was very successful in the States, where its user interfaces were widely praised. A UK launch in 2000 was less successful, and business partner Thomson dropped the range after the launch of Sky+.

Tivo will develop Virgin Media's next generation TV platform. It's charged with creating a converged interface for access of television and broadband services. This will run on Virgin Media's next generation, high definition set top boxes.

The next generation platform should offer a superior television viewing experience which will allow Virgin Media customers to search and discover content through major advances in video-on-demand integration and broadband video delivery creating the ultimate one-stop-shop for in-home entertainment.

Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media said, "TiVo's proven track record of innovation, strength of its patented technology and experience in developing best in class user environments, make it an ideal strategic partner for Virgin Media as we move aggressively to bring our next generation TV service to market. The superiority of our fibre optic network combined with TiVo's capabilities, will allow us to offer consumers the most significantly advanced and compelling TV service available in the UK, and we believe will do to the TV market what Virgin Media has done to the high speed broadband market."

Virgin Media estimates its first Tivo co-branded product will be launched in 2010. We feel this is good news for subscibers, as Tivo's long-running experience of creating user interfaces should help hugely as Virgin Media try to combine traditional broadcast and broadband-based media.

Author: Seth Barton