TiVo Making "Hundreds" of Free Broadband Videos Available via New "Podcast Channels"

TiVo--which earlier this week announced a deal that will see cable overbuilder, RCN, offering a co-branded TiVo box as its primary DVR and using the now quite extensive line-up of broadband video programming available through the device to supplement and differentiate its own VOD service (see article published on itvt.com, August 5th)--announced Wednesday that it is making available "hundreds" of free broadband videos to broadband-connected TiVo Series3, TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL subscribers via new "podcast channels." Providers of the new channels include CBS, Fox and G4. The company also announced that it is now possible for any video podcast provider to publish video content to TiVo DVR's using industry-standard Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and H.264 video.

According to TiVo, subscribers can watch the new video podcasts instantly, or can set a Season Pass recording and have new videos downloaded automatically to their TiVo Now Playing List as they are published. In addition, the company says, subscribers can stream videos not listed by TiVo, by simply entering the URL for a video podcast they want within the "Video On Demand" menu (TiVo Central > Video on Demand > Browse Web Videos > Custom RSS Feed) on their TiVo DVR. According to the company, all its new podcast channels and episodes are also indexed in TiVo Search, which the company bills as providing a "seamless" way to simultaneously search broadcast and broadband content. "What makes this announcement unique is that everyone has the ability to publish their content to the TiVo DVR for users to watch on the best screen in the home, using open industry standards such as RSS and H.264 video," Evan Young, TiVo's senior director of broadband services, said in a prepared statement. "With a robust library of Web videos already available through the TiVo DVR, and the ability to enter the URL for other podcasts you want, this announcement puts the control in the hands of the user to search for and retrieve exactly what they want to watch and from the comfort of the couch." More information on the new service and instructions on how to publish video to the TiVo DVR are available at tivo.com/rssvideo.

In other TiVo news: According to a report Wednesday by Jeff Baumgartner of Cable Digital News, RCN shelved its plans to implement tru2way after signing its deal with TiVo. "This [TiVo DVR] is what we think tru2way should be in the endgame," Jason Nealis, RCN's senior director of video products and operations, told Baumgartner, noting, Baumgartner said, that the new plan would provide RCN with an easy way to combine the Internet with the traditional walled garden of the cable set-top. "Everything that's been on my product roadmap is there," Nealis added. RCN will monitor ongoing developments with tru2way and may introduce it if it "makes sense" for it, Baumgartner reported. Nealis also revealed that RCN's TiVo box will feature TiVo's "next-generation hardware" and will provide up to 1 terabyte of storage.