TV News

There’s a new digital TV service in the US called TiVo Premiere that’s going to be incorporated into Virgin Media’s TV packages and take their service to the next level. TiVo Premiere provides a link between your TV and the web , so while you may be watching an episode of Glee, say, on a channel in your TV package you’ll also be able to access any related episodes, information, behind-the-scenes specials and so on that exist on the web. This is done by having a ‘discovery bar’ at the top of the screen which displays related material available (whether free or paid) and is so seamless that the impression you get is one of a totally integrated service (TiVo invented the personal video recorder that many of us now know as Sky+ so they know their stuff).

This is how TiVo’s Chief Executive Tom Rogers puts it;

“Broadband and broadcast are integrated and the user doesn’t need to know how. This is the next revolution in television”

In the UK TiVo Premiere will be available later in the year as part of Virgin Media’s TV package, with new V+ boxes planned to incorporate the new functions like the discovery bar and the dedicated remote control with a flip-out QWERTY keyboard. The TiVo boxes in the US come with 320GB or 1 Terabyte of memory so Virgin TV will probably produce something similar, although depending how long it takes to reach the UK there may be a new standard of over 1TB by then.

So what exactly does it do? Starting with the obvious, you’re watching your favourite programme and you can very quickly see a list of any other episodes, related documentaries or even games available. Then you can click on the name of a cast member and see other shows and movies available on the web in which they feature. The clever thing is you can then mark one of these discoveries as a ‘favourite’ even though it’s out there on the web rather than in your package of channels – as long as your broadband is on it’s there for you ‘on demand’. This is what the main screen looks like…

What it’s really doing for you is gathering and organising all of the related TV content out there and giving it to you on a plate. Word is that Sky are working on a similar service but one that will not need a change of set-top box – more details on that as they come out.