Why stop at audio podcasting when you can serve up video? TiVo will begin providing daily Rocketboom broadcast downloads on Monday. Networked Series 2 units are eligible to sign up via this web page or through a new Showcase which will appear on TiVo units tonight.
Even cooler, TiVo is soliciting volunteers to provide content (Engadget, are you listening?) for their “VideoBlog Project” here.
TiVo says: Rocketboom is currently one of the most popular videoblogs on the internet with more daily subscribers for original syndicated multimedia content than nearly any other site, including podcasts. Now, Rocketboom is available on TiVo as part of the TiVo Video Download Trial.
This is so cool. I love RocketBoom, and I really hope that Tivo goes all the way with this and gets other downloadable content up there soon. It would help bring back a little faith in the company, which has been shaken over the years with bad software roll outs and missed ship dates.
Imagine if Tiov reinvents themselves as _the_ platform for user generated content, joining with participatoryculture.org or ourmeidia.org, and includ a BitTorrent engine. After the Long Tail effects video blogs, and there are a ton of them to choose from (as there are with podcasts now) and I find something I really like, I will definitely get a Tivo. They could be the Podshow of Video. They could partner with a ton of advertisers and exploit the Long Tail to a point where you will only see ads for things that your would be interested in. Or maybe a partnership with Skype/Ebay to turn the Tivo into a video phone? Could that work? If Tiov does not do it, someone else will. If Tivo does things right, the future for them could be really exciting.