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TiVo, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based startup, plans to stretch the boundaries of TV watching with a soon-tobe-delivered video recorder tied to its sophisticated "push-style" personalized TV programming service.
The company, which said it has developed a high-resolution MPEG-2 hard disc-based recording system and intelligent program guide service, uses the slogan "Giving you what you want, when you want it" to explain its mission.
The TiVo service, due to hit retail through a geographical rollout starting in the spring, uses online TV data services and software to memorize users' viewing habits and preferences and then will automatically select and record shows it determines a viewer will like.
An entry-level TiVo home "center" will store up to 20 hours of programming at a time.
Programs can be played back at a user's convenience in digital quality that TiVo said is indistinguishable from a live off-air broadcast.
The starting price for set-top TiVo centers -- which is determined by hard drive capacity - is expected to be less than $500. A monthly service charge for the phone-based online service is expected to be $9.95, although market studies are still being conducted.
TiVo said it can keep prices low because it will also derive revenue from networks and product advertisers, as explained shortly.
"What we are creating here is the first personalized television on-air service," said programming and network relations VP Stacy Jolna, whose track record includes stints with WebTV Networks and CNN. "In much the same way that AOL is an online information service, TiVo is an on-air entertainment service."
The set-top recorder will include a hard-drive, real-time MPEG-2 encoder, microprocessor and telephone modem to tie the set-top to the TiVo TV listings service.
Robert Poniatowski, product marketing director, said copy protection is not a problem because the equipment offers no digital output connection and the...