For a sneak peak at TiVo’s Guru Guide recommendation and scheduling service, check out the pre-release web pages here. The initial batch of (working!) guides include suggestions from Sports Illustrated, CNET, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard. For the moment, you can only access Guru Guides via the TiVo webpage, though I suspect once KidZone functionality arrives (soon) we might see TiVo-based registration. TiVo has also launched What They’re Watching, a related feature of celebrity programming recommendations.

(tip via megazone)

Beginning next month, broadband-connected Series2 TiVo units will be able to subscribe to multiple new downloadable web and television video offerings in addition to the current CNET and Rocketboom services. I’m envisioning TiVoCast will be housed in a HME subscription application, similar to the recently launched ProductWatch.

Interestingly, no money is changing hands (yet) between TiVo and the content providers who will advertise their brands while selling commercials. In return TiVo continues to differentiate themselves from generic DVRs while refining the service and looking to partner with bigger fish. You know… the kind of fish that can provide movies on demand. As with MovieBeam, I’m willing to pay for true VOD distinct from a cable or satellite provider.

(I’m surprised that Brightcove isn’t referenced…)

TiVo Inc., the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), today announced the launch of TiVoCast(TM), a revolutionary new service which will deliver broadband video directly to the television sets of TiVo subscribers. The TiVoCast service turns Web video into television by bringing top broadband content now only available on the PC to the TV set.

“The range and quality of broadband video is exploding on the Web, but it’s not TV until it is on the TV,” said Tom Rogers, CEO of TiVo. “With the TiVoCast service, we are once again transforming the television experience by bringing the rapidly expanding array of video content on the Internet into the living room.”

“Television is still the preferred platform for watching video. The TiVoCast service captures mainstream and specialty-based content on the Web, delivering programming that is not otherwise available through the TV today and providing a wide variety of choice that will be of interest to all segments of the TV audience,” said Tara Maitra, TiVo’s Vice President and General Manager, Programming. “The TiVoCast service provides niche networks and broadband content suppliers, for which the economics of television distribution might not make sense, a way to connect with audiences in the living room via their favorite medium for watching video, TV and TiVo.”

As part of the launch, TiVo announced that it has reached new agreements with leading video content providers including the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), The New York Times, Heavy, iVillage and CNET among others. The broadband video content will include:

(more…)

Despite reporting difficulties in working out licensing agreements with the major studios, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tells Business Week they intend to offer movie downloads by yearend. Perhaps the first iteration of their service, via TiVo or purely web-based means, will consist of the 90 independent films they’ve licensed for distribution.

Business Week says: Nevertheless, Hastings is hedging his bets by expanding Netflix into niches that will help it maintain an edge as new rivals emerge. He also wants to be a player in Web distribution, which it will launch by yearend even though Hastings thinks the market for downloading will be tiny for years. Netflix hopes a rep as the cool auteur’s friend will build an army of loyal customers before its download service competes with Apple Computer, Yahoo!, or Comcast.

Never enough time…

• PAL Slingbox released in UK for £179.99. (PC World)
• Sprint ponders expanding mobile video, in talks with Sling. (Reuters)
• TiVo’s quaterly conference call analyzed. (Thomas Hawk)
• New Mac PVR products arrive. (PVRWire)
• iTunes sells overpriced NHL clips. (TUAW)

As a DVR user and a guy with a short attention span, I don’t watch a whole lot of live TV. Football and Lost are about the only things I catch as they’re broadcast. Why bother posting? I want to get it on the record that 4/13 I predicted Henry Gale as a Kaiser Soze… which I expect to see revealed tonight. In fact I have a $10 bet riding on it with a work buddy.

I’m not an American Idol fan, but I happen to live with someone who is. From what I’ve seen the best performer (Chris Daughtry) has already been booted, making the show even less interesting. However, tonight’s finale is worth mentioning because this is your last chance to enter TiVo’s Idol Speculation Series3 raffle. 3pm EST is the cut off, so you might need to take a long lunch to get your entry in.

We haven’t heard a whole lot since the jury ruled in favor of TiVo. However, today the Rocky Mountain News reports that TiVo is seeking an injunction against Echostar. We probably won’t learn much more until after next month’s bench trial. Stay tuned…

“Each day EchoStar is allowed to continue its infringement, EchoStar takes subscribers that would otherwise be TiVo’s,” TiVo wrote in a document available on the court’s Web site. “TiVo is a small company with essentially one product — its patented DVR technology. If TiVo cannot deliver this technology, its current business will fail.”

UPDATE: This morning (5/24), Echostar responded in the form of a press release:

“We are pleased that the United States Patent and Trademark Office yesterday rejected many of Tivo’s patent claims as invalid. That reexamination ruling, together with the favorable decision from the Court of Appeals earlier this month (finding that the Texas court abused its discretion in connection with key trial evidence withheld from the jury), are steps in the right direction as we prepare our response to Tivo’s recently filed injunction motion. Similarly, the favorable U.S. Supreme Court decision last week in the Ebay patent injunction case will be considered as part of the long process ahead.”

I have no idea which patents they are referring to or if this development has any bearing on the case. Is Echostar posturing for more favorable licensing terms or are they intent on fighting the verdict?

UPDATE 2: TiVo fires back with their own press release…

“The level of misleading spin that EchoStar is putting out with respect to our patent case against them is quite extraordinary. We are pleased to
state that the USPTO issued its first Office Action in the reexamination.
The USPTO reexamined all 61 claims set forth in the Barton patent
confirming the validity of most of the claims, including two of the claims
that EchoStar has been found to have willfully infringed. In the Office
Action, the USPTO expressly rejected the invalidity arguments put forward by EchoStar. While certain of the patent claims were rejected by the patent office, this should in no way impact the jury verdict. We will now be given an opportunity with the patent office to discuss our claims which we believe should result in a reaffirmed and strengthened patent. We will provide a real understanding of how this process works on our earnings call after close of market today.”

Never enough time…

• Download your TV; the current options. (TechCrunch)
• ABC.com users watch more than two million streams. (PVRBlog)
• TV networks blissfully ignore TiVo problem. (CNN Money)
• Windows Vista requires analog tuner. (jkOnTheRun)
• Paramount embraces blogosphere. (Technorati)