TiVo and BellSouth Ink Marketing Deal

Looks like at least one telco is picking up TiVo as an ally against the cable companies… TiVo says: Beginning this week, BellSouth and TiVo will launch the first of a variety of co-marketing initiatives that leverage product synergies between BellSouth FastAccess DSL and TiVo in order to drive additional distribution of the respective services. … Read more

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… Time Warner Cable, Raleigh refuses to provide CableCARD for TiVo? (TiVo Blog) Amazon to launch movie download service next month? (Hacking Netflix) TiVo takes on Nielsen in providing granular advertising info. (TiVo Lovers) Motorola acquires video-on-demand company Broadbus Technologies. (Boston Globe) AM radio is still kicking. (LA Times)

TiVo Hosts Sprite’s “subLYMONal” Advertising

Press Release: TiVo Showcases Increase Consumer Interaction and Help Advertisers Reach Fast- Forwarding Viewers

Sprite, America’s #1 lemon-lime soft drink and TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in advertising solutions and television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced a partnership that will feature a cutting-edge interactive advertisement on a TiVo Showcase. Beginning July 24th and running for two weeks, the Showcase will feature a part of Sprite’s “subLYMONal” campaign. This is Sprite’s first interactive advertising run on the TiVo platform.

The TiVo Showcase allows brand marketers to better engage consumers in a deeper, more involved dialogue through long form entertainment content. Sprite’s “subLYMONal” ads will have a “Gold Star Sponsorship” on TiVo Central. Viewers can follow a link to a Showcase where they can view Sprite ads and then, using TiVo’s Trick Play features, find out how to use Sprite “subLYMONal Codes.” TiVo also displays “interactive tags” in Sprite’s advertising as it appears on TiVo DVRs, allowing viewers to pause television and click-through to Sprite’s TiVo Showcase to view more Sprite content, without missing even a second of the TV show they were watching.

“TiVo has the only interactive advertising solution dedicated to DVR viewing and we are excited to add Sprite to our growing list of interactive advertising partners,” said Davina Kent, Vice President, National Advertising Sales at TiVo. “Providing the only platform for DVR-ready creative, TiVo is helping advertisers overcome commercial fast-forwards with unique and exciting advertisements that allow them to further connect with their target audience through the television and increase the overall awareness of the brand.”

“SubLYMONal” advertisements will feature special codes embedded in the content and only revealed if viewed in slow motion that can be entered at the brand’s new website, www.subLYMONal.com. The site allows people to interact with the advertising and provides different ways for consumers to create their own “subLYMONal” experiences.

Read more

Uganda, Where TiVo Employees Go To Retire

Who am I to overlook a TiVo-related human interest story? This week’s Entrepreneur column in Business Week profiles Kiva.org, a peer-to-peer microlending service, co-founded by TiVo alum Matt Flannery. What the article doesn’t mention is that at least one other former TiVo employee is involved in Kiva and has relocated to Africa. HME maestro Carl … Read more

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… Multistream CableCARDs (CC 1.0+ aka M-Card) expected soon. (HD Beat) Better Business Bureau rates TiVo as “unsatisfactory.” (TV Predictions) Samsung’s Blu-ray player comes factory-misconfigured. (Engadget) NBC new season preview DVD available to Netflix subscribers. (Hacking Netflix) UPnP specs updated. (eHomeUpgrade)

TiVo Confirms Series3 Testing, Hitting Retail “Soon”

TiVo has notified both the FCC and cable operators that CableCARD compliant HD Series3 units are currently being tested and should be released to retail… soon! Letter says: The TiVo Series3 HD DVR product supports up to two CableCARD decoders. This product acts as two independent single stream UDCP CableCARD hosts within one set top … Read more

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… TiVo now selling at Radio Shack. (Davis Freeberg) Echostar invests in CinemaNow. (HDBeat) Check out PVR-oriented podcast. (TechLore) Cingular launches HBO series for cellphones. (Reuters) UPnP AV network specs updated. (eHomeUpgrade)

TiVo and DirecTV Nominated for Emmys

Anyone live near LA? In two weeks the American Film Institute (AFI) is hosting a pretty interesting digital media gathering. Some of the compelling sponsors include presenter Starz (aka Vongo) and exhibitor Brightcove (a TiVo partner). More importantly TiVo and DTV have been nominated for Interactive/Enhanced Television Programming Emmys and the winners will be announced … Read more