Verizon Wireless and TiVo recently announced a deal in which Verizon subscribers will be able to program the latter company’s digital video recorder through their mobile phones.
TiVo, the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), and Verizon Wireless, owner of the nation’s most reliable network, of late announced an agreement that will allow Verizon Wireless to debut TiVo Mobile, a new downloadable application that lets TiVo service subscribers schedule recordings on their TiVo device directly from their Get It Now equipped Verizon Wireless handset.
TiVo, based in Alviso, Calif., has 4 million subscribers, making it the largest DVR provider in the world, according to market researcher In-Stat, which pegs the total number of DVR subscribers at 12 million.
TiVo is hoping the service will become popular among wireless subscribers who want the option of scheduling recordings while away from home. The company offers a similar service for programming its DVR through a computer connected to the Web. The service, which is supposed to appeal to people at work, was launched in November 2005 through a deal with Yahoo Inc., which has built a special site on Yahoo TV.
This arrangement will allow the growing base of TiVo subscribers to integrate control of their TV life with the most widespread piece of consumer electronics, the wireless phone, Tom Rogers, CEO of TiVo, said in a statement.
"Tivo has a lot of challenges," Mike Paxton, analyst for market researcher In-Stat, said. "It is a tough market segment." In trying to grow its business, TiVo has announced more than a dozen services over the last year, in trying to differentiate itself from competitors, Paxton said.
The company, however, is struggling to grow its subscriber base, as it faces stiffer competition from cable operators and telephone companies delivering similar capabilities in set-top boxes. Unlike its competitors, which are selling directly to 10s of millions of their own TV subscribers, TiVo sells its DVR through retailers or through partnerships with satellite or cable companies.
"We have not seen any of them strike a chord with consumers in terms of attracting new subscribers to the TiVo service," he said.
TiVo mobile application will provide subscribers with an interface similar to what their use to at home, the company said. Besides offering the software download, Verizon Wireless has also agreed under the exclusive arrangement to a joint marketing campaign with TiVo.
It is not going to significantly attract new subscribers to TiVo products and services, Paxton said. From a technology perspective, it is neat and a nice-to-have feature that may appeal to people on the cutting edge of technology. But we think that is a relatively small segment of the population.
In December, TiVo rolled out a host of online services, reflecting an industry trend of merging the Internet with TV.
Customers with a TiVo Series 2 DVR connected to the Internet over broadband have access to services provided by partners Fandango, a movie ticket service; Web radio network Live365 and entertainment portal Yahoo.
TiVo Mobile will add yet another unique benefit to the Verizon Wireless Get It Now service by allowing our subscribers to be the first mobile users anywhere to schedule television recordings on TiVo using their mobile handset," said John Stratton, Verizon Wireless chief marketing officer. As a powerful consumer entertainment brand, TiVo has the ability to help us attract consumers who value the leading multimedia capabilities Verizon Wireless offers.
The partnerships added a variety of services, including movie listings and tickets, web radio, podcasts, viewing shared photos and local traffic and weather. The new features were included as part of the standard TiVo service.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.