TiVo locked to Telecom, pricing announced

TiVo - the popular digital video recording device - will hit the market here in November.

Fully-functioning TiVo will only be available to Telecom broadband users when it launches here in November.

The much-lauded set top box due to be launched in November will require an active Telecom broadband account.

Subscribers to other ISPs will be left out in the cold when it comes to broadband delivered content including movies, and television shows.

The TiVo EPG (electronic programming guide)will be available to all users.

The TiVo box will cost $899 and will be available through standard Telecom retail avenues and through its website. The box with a Wi-Fi add-on will cost $920.

A drip-feed payment plan is also offered, with a $200 up-front payment and two years of $30 per month. Users own the device outright once it's paid for.

Aside from some paid content, there are no other ongoing costs with the device.

Australasian rights to TiVo are owned by Hybrid TV, a Seven Network venture which TVNZ owns a 33% stake in.

Hybrid TV chief executive Robbee Minicola said that TiVo would provide a solution to those people without digital-capable televisions when New Zealand free-to-air broadcasts switch to digital-only.

Content downloaded to TiVo sets can be shared between network-connected devices like PCs, mobile phones, iPods and PlayStation Portables.

Downloads to the TiVo box will be unmetered, meaning they will not impact on data allowances on broadband plans.

While New Zealand's broadband is generally accepted as being off the pace of many parts of the world, Minicola says TiVo is unaffected by this.

She said that data delivered at a modest speed of 1.5Mbps (megabits per second) it would only take three to five minutes to download the first ten minutes of programming.

Once this had downloaded, users could start watching the programme while the balance downloaded in the background.

She says the system is designed so content that is being watched "won't bump into" content that is still downloading.

TiVo can be remotely accessed from anywhere in the world and programmed including features like the 14-day EPG, Season Pass (which allows every episode of a series to be downloaded) or WishList, which records everything linked to nominated favourite actors, sports teams or topics.

Broadband content will include movies and television shows with Minicola promising a "pretty punchy portfolio at launch" of around 200 movies.

Movies will be supplied on a pay-per-view basis initially, and some television content will also require additional payments. Others will be supported by advertising.

Some content will be protected by DRM (digital rights management) and won't be able to be shared across home networks.

Telecom retail CEO Alan Gourdie told a press launch this morning that TiVo would work with all broadband plans that it supplies - but dial-up users won't have the pace to use it.

"It's a bolt-on," said Gourdie, "anyone with a standard broadband package can add TiVo."

He said mobile delivery of programming will be separate to its recently-launched television service offered over the Telecom high-speed XT network.

The TiVo recorder contains two high-definition tuners, which can simultaneously record shows while broadband content is watched and more is downloaded.