TiVo, Pace partnership
February 22, 2012
DVR specialist TiVo and STB maker Pace have revealed plans to port TiVo’s software to Pace’s set-tops and gateways. The initiative is designed further to enable operators around the world to deploy quickly and cost-effectively the TiVo consumer experience to a selection of Pace devices.
“This global partnership with Pace is another step in achieving our constant goal of providing the TiVo service to an ever-expanding audience,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “The integration of TiVo’s advanced television software with Pace’s service provider optimised platforms will allow our mutual partners to offer TiVo’s best-in-class linear and broadband TV experience with their choice of hardware. This answers strong interest from TiVo’s growing list of service providers deploying the TiVo experience to their customers.”
Pace has licensed TiVo’s Hardware Porting Kit and will work with TiVo to build a TiVo-verified platform which will provide operators licensing the TiVo solution the choice of utilising Pace set-top boxes and gateways. To simplify operational integration and speed to market, the solution will leverage Pace’s provisioning and device management capabilities and provide integrated high-speed data connectivity for broadband communications and content delivery.
The solution will also harness TiVo’s whole-home capabilities, such as multi-room streaming and support for both traditional set-top and IP clients, including TiVo’s mobile and tablet applications.
Mike Pulli, CEO of Pace, said that TiVo had “a great solution” for operators looking to answer their customers’ increased demand for advanced and hybrid TV capabilities. “We’ve seen increased interest from all segments of our service provider business to integrate the TiVo solution. In working together, we will provide an offering which seamlessly marries the operator’s television and Internet services in an elegant and easy to use product for their end users,” he added.
Pace intends to offer implementations for both DVR and advanced gateway set-top boxes globally, with an initial product to be made available to cable operators in the Americas.
US operators currently deploying TiVo offerings to their customers include Charter, DirectTV, RCN, Suddenlink and Grande Communications, and European operators include Virgin Media, the largest cable operator in the UK, and ONO, the largest cable operator in Spain.