Macrovision Launches tru2way Version of its Passport EPG

At the NCTA Cable Show in Washington, DC last week, Macrovision, the company that last year acquired the US's dominant EPG developer, Gemstar-TV Guide, launched a version of its Passport EPG for tru2way-enabled devices (note: the company also offers a tru2way version of its i-Guide EPG). The company bills the new guide, which is slated for availability in Q4, as providing the cable market with an industry-standard platform for advanced video and content features in digital set-top boxes and television sets, and as enabling a simplified whole-home entertainment experience for consumers. "Macrovision is committed to a standards-based approach to delivering its solutions," Corey Ferengul, Macrovision's EVP of product management and marketing, said in a prepared statement. "We believe tru2way technology will improve the consumer experience and enable service providers to innovate in a demanding market. We are pleased to support the adoption of the tru2way standard with the latest addition to our Passport suite of solutions. Our technologies are designed to provide our customers with options as they build a more complete whole-home experience for consumers."

According to Macrovision, service providers will be able to use the Passport tru2way platform to implement a full-featured EPG, integrated with a range of OCAP/tru2way set-topvendors and stacks. The solution is based on the Passport native platform, and includes various features and functions from the company's Passport Echo EPG, which is designed for Motorola and Cisco (Scientific-Atlanta) platforms. According to the company, those features include: 1) advanced functionality such as parental controls, PVR, HD and VOD support; 2) "true" 16:9 HD design which enables two-hour listings grids and improved design space for better navigation; 3) "leading-edge" features such as DVR Lost & Found and Series Manager, as well as "seamless" integration with such interactive applications as ShowRunner On Demand and iSubscribe (allows ordering of cable services via the remote control), and integration with Harvest, a viewership data collection tool; and 4) a new View Deck menu that provides quick access to key functions and advanced services.

Macrovision also used the Cable Show to announce multi-room DVR capability on its high-end Passport Echo 3.5 EPG and its standard i-Guide A28 EPG. The company says that the capability will be available on Motorola's standardized MoCA (multimedia-over-coax)-enabled set-top boxes in North America in the fourth quarter. "Consumers now want access to all the content available on the TV that is right in front of them wherever they are in their home," Macrovision's Ferengul said in a prepared statement. "The addition of multi-room DVR features to our Passport Echo and i-Guide IPG solutions underscores our commitment to delivering the technology that enables our MSO customers to address the evolving needs of TV viewers around the world."

According to Macrovision, the new Passport and i-Guide multi-room DVR feature provides: 1) the ability to start and stop a program in one room and resume play in another; 2) the ability to view a list of one's recordings from multiple locations within the home; 3) the ability to watch a recorded program at the same time as other family members watch the same show in a different room; 4) trick-mode functionality with multiple speeds for fast-forward, rewind, pause, slow motion and instant replay; and 5) the ability to play three HD shows on the network while recording two HD shows.

In addition, Macrovision used the Cable Show to announce that its Connected Platform solution now supports tru2way. By deploying the new, tru2way-enabled version of the Connected Platform solution, the company says, CE manufacturers now have the ability to develop tru2way-ready multi-room DVR's that can share recorded programming throughout the home, as well as other digital content--such as music, home video, photos and Internet content--from a range of locations and DLNA-, UPnP- and DTCP-IP-compliant devices via a home network. Macrovision bills the integration of its Connected Platform solution with tru2way as "giving operators and service providers more choice on how to implement content-sharing capabilities in their infrastructure" and as enabling manufacturers to "better target the cable industry by deploying advanced features based on the tru2way specification."

According to Macrovision, its Connected Platform solution provides CE manufacturers with a complete package of standards-based development tools and reference designs, offers a rich GUI, and allows manufacturers to develop digital TV's, set-top boxes and DVR's that "intuitively manage consumers' recorded, personal and premium content." The Connected Platform with tru2way support is slated for availability in North America during the current quarter.

In other recent interactive TV-related news from Macrovision:
--The company announced last week that it has signed a multi-year agreement to license EPG patents in multiple European countries to UPC Broadband, the European cable division of Liberty Global. The deal also provides Macrovision with the rights to distribute to other service providers certain EPG and other interactive TV technologies that were developed by UPC. According to the companies, this technology relationship agreement includes the potential for them to collaborate on additional products and technologies in the future. "We are pleased about this mutually beneficial opportunity for both companies to share each other's expertise and intellectual property rights in this rapidly developing and exciting area," Ton Tuijten, SVP and general counsel of Liberty Global Europe, said in a prepared statement.
--Last month, the company announced that it had completed the sale of its TV Guide Network and TV Guide Online properties to Lionsgate. The deal, which valued the two properties at $255 million and which was first announced in January, pre-empted a previously announced deal, under which TV Guide Network was to be sold to Allen Shapiro and One Equity Partners. According to Macrovision, the structure of the Lionsgate deal allows it to "utilize the strategic capabilities" of TV Guide Online, while remaining focused on its core competencies in technology: under the terms of the deal, Macrovision will retain "key strategic online elements currently utilized throughout this site"--i.e., its B2B grid syndications business, whereby it licenses its online guide to other portals, and functionality that enhances its embedded guidance product offering, such as integration from embedded guides with online or mobile guides that allow for remote record.
--In February, the company announced that it had signed an agreement to license its EPG patent portfolio and its TV Guide data solutions to CyberLink for use in the latter's TVEnhance and PowerCinema software. According to the companies, the deal will allow CyberLink to enrich its TV features and program guides, in order to deliver an improved TV-on-PC experience. "We are excited to have CyberLink join our global patent licensing program and use our data solutions to help media center PC users to discover premium TV content on CyberLink's platform," Samir Armaly, Macrovision's SVP of licensing, said in a prepared statement. "We believe CyberLink's dedication to enrich the television experience on the PC in conjunction with licensing our digital home entertainment technologies can result in a compelling solution for end-users."
--In January, the company announced that it had completed the sale of its interactive horseracing network, TVG, to Betfair for $50 million in cash. "The divestiture of the TVG Network marks another milestone in a set of objectives we set for ourselves when we acquired Gemstar-TV Guide in 2008, and helps to focus our company around the goal of powering a uniquely simple home entertainment experience," Macrovision president and CEO, Fred Amoroso, said in a prepared statement.
--In January, the company announced the addition of a new feature, dubbed "Chumoku-Bangumi," to G-Guide, its EPG for the Japanese CE market. The feature, which is offered on new Viera HDTV sets from Panasonic, provides information on a selection of recommended TV shows for up to a month from the date the programs aired, and also incorporates visuals from those shows, in addition to text descriptions. Around 100 programs are showcased by the new feature, and featured shows can be set to record for up to one month in advance (note: otherwise, G-Guide listings have an eight-day range).
--At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas January, the company unveiled a new EPG--currently designated by the project name, "Neon"--which it bills as enabling viewers to access broadcast, personal and Internet content from one screen or "homepage," and as thus providing a framework for consumer electronics manufacturers to build devices that can function as a central location for finding and playing TV shows, Internet-delivered video and music, and content from personal media libraries. According to the company, the new EPG is designed to address the fact that consumers have to switch devices whenever they access a different form of media, and provides an underlying, standards-based technology framework to simplify the process of playing music, downloading movies and viewing photos on the TV directly from the home PC or other DLNA-compatible storage devices. "Macrovision is taking full advantage of the new connected capabilities built into televisions and recording devices," Macrovision's EVP of product management, Steve Shannon, said in a prepared statement. "Our flexible, standards-based approach in our IPG makes it straightforward for our CE partners to deliver digital entertainment products that consumers crave. This product demonstrates our commitment to leading the evolution of the digital home and to working with CE manufacturers and the content community to transform home entertainment." Features supported by the new guide, according to Macrovision, include rich program descriptors and cover art for TV shows; a personalizable TV dashboard dubbed "My Guide"; DVR functions for recording and playing back broadcast TV; smart recommendations to help viewers discover new programs; secure streaming of premium Internet content over the home network; and rich, graphical advertising capabilities for promoting programs and products (thus, the company says, enabling new, recurring revenue opportunities for CE manufacturers). The new guide is scheduled for availability in the US and Europe in the current quarter, and will be offered as a complete reference design or as customizable modules, together with professional services.
--The company also used CES to demo a new capability of its consumer electronics EPG that enables viewers with Internet-connected television sets to use the guide to watch broadband video programming. The demo was held in collaboration with CBS and saw select CBS content, including episodes of "CSI," being accessed directly from Macrovision's CE EPG, which the company claims has been deployed in around 58 million devices around the world. Macrovision says that it is expanding the new functionality to enable consumers with Internet-connected televisions to "navigate, discover and select Web content...with just the click of their television remote controls." The company says that the new functionality is designed to address the fact that consumers are increasingly demanding access to Internet-based media through other devices than the PC, including TV sets. "The trend of consumers watching television programming in many different ways at their own leisure continues," Macrovision's Corey Ferengul said in a prepared statement. "Imagine missing your favorite television program yet having the flexibility to immediately access it on your television screen with your remote control. We are committed to continuing to partner with content providers to enhance the overall home entertainment experience." Macrovision previously announced a partnership with CinemaNow to bring downloaded movies to the television. The company says that its new Internet-connected TV interface is "powered by rich media, data and metadata that Macrovision provides for music, games, movies and television programming."
--In January, the company announced that it had signed a licensing agreement with Sanyo, under which its Guide Daily EPG will be incorporated into the latter's DTV product line. Guide Daily--a limited-feature version of Macrovision's full-scale EPG's that nevertheless allows viewers to navigate, sort, select and schedule TV programming--is being deployed into a line of Sanyo TV sets that are scheduled to be available in the first half of the year at Walmart stores, and that offer a number of advanced features including a USB photo viewer. According to Macrovision, Guide Daily features 24 hours of program listings which populate quickly and which include full program descriptions, ratings and HD icons. The listings cover programming delivered over DTT, cable and satellite, and require no phone connection, as they are delivered via an over-the-air signal.
--In late December, the company announced that it had signed a multi-year patent license agreement with UK-based CE manufacturer, Alba, that allows the latter to incorporate Macrovision EPG technology into certain retail brands of set-top boxes and other CE products distributed in the UK. "We are very pleased to expand our IPG patent licensing program to include Alba," Macrovision's Samir Armaly said in a prepared statement. "Alba joins other leading brands that have elected to take a license under our IPG patent portfolio for the UK market."
--In late December, the company announced that it had signed a multi-year patent license agreement for its EPG technology with Germany's SM Electronic, which offers CE products under the Skymaster brand. The deal gives SM Electronic the right to incorporate EPG technology into retail set-top boxes and other CE products distributed throughout Europe.