Satellite television provider DirecTV and DVR pioneer TiVo used to have a very cozy relationship. The companies got together back in 2000, and shortly DirecTV was moving the majority of TiVo DVR devices and creating oodles of TiVo subscriptions. However, the relationship between the two companies began to go downhill, and in 2005 DirecTV announced it was going to develop its own DVRs, developed by NDS Group, rather than stick with the TiVo units. The news was almost a death knell for TiVo, which for a while struggled to put boxes in living rooms and work out deals with other service providers, while trying to convince the industry it really did have a future.
Now, however, the tide appears to be coming back in: TiVo and DirecTV have announced they are re-teaming to create a new high-definition digital video recorder exclusively for use with DirecTV satellite service. According to the companies, the new DVR will support TiVo features like TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone (although features like TiVo-to-Go and multi-room viewing haven’t been mentioned). The companies expect to launch the new DVR in the second half of 2009.
The new TiVo DVR will be offered alongside DirecTV’s own DVR products, rather than replacing them, giving DirecTV customers a choice of DVR technologies.
“As the industry’s content and technology leader, DirecTV has a long-standing reputation for developing innovative, advanced products and services, including our highly successful series of DVRs and HD DVRs,” said DirecTV CEO and president Chase Carey, in a statement. “We will continue to work with TiVo and make this new product available to all new and existing DirecTV customers who may want to add TiVo on top of our industry leading experience.”
Neither company has announced any pricing or package information for the new DVR, and neither TiVo nor DirecTV disclosed the financial terms of the arrangement.
