MUMBAI: Spanish cable op Ono and Tivo, which creates television services for personal video recorders, have signed a strategic agreement to deploy ‘next generation TV‘ in Spain.
Through the combination of its modern fibre optic network and TiVo‘s best in class television user experience, Ono will be able to offer Spanish homes a video service in a convergence between Internet and traditional television.
This partnership establishes Ono as the exclusive distributor of Tivo‘s advanced television services in Spain. Similarly, Tivo will become the exclusive software provider for all next generation set top boxes deployed by Ono, including both PVR platforms and traditional "non-PVR" set-top-boxes. Ono and Tivo also expect to collaborate on solutions that make the TiVo experience available to consumers beyond Ono‘s cable footprint in conjunction with terrestrial and Internet delivered content -- though specifics of these plans were not disclosed.
Endorsed by its undeniable success in the US, the Tivo service is a completely novel experience on the audiovisual panorama.
Ono CEO Rosalía Portela says, "Working with a strategic partner of the stature of TiVo, a pioneer and innovator in the development of a converged recording system and in the implementation of a new model of television in other countries, allows us to make the leap to launching the next generation of TV in the market. Our fibre optic network combined with the capacity of TiVo will position us at the cutting edge of advanced next generation services for the Internet and Television."
The Tivo products deployed by Ono will showcase the superiority of Ono‘s fibre optic network to deliver the market‘s most comprehensive array of content including broadcast television, cable video-on-demand, and Internet delivered video. This will be made possible by Tivo‘s software platform which provides a universal search experience across the infinite world of content unleashed by this type of hybrid platform.
The product will feature the Tivo branded user interface and will enable a variety of features that Tivo users in the US have come to know and love, for example, Season Pass recordings and WishList searches.
Tivo president and CEO Tom Rogers says, "We are extremely proud to be selected as ONO‘s strategic partner for its next generation video experience and believe that together we can offer the most compelling video product in the Spanish marketplace. Building on our recent announcement with Virgin Media in the UK, this deal demonstrates the growing proliferation of Tivo as the most compelling solution for television providers seeking to differentiate their service through a best-in-class user experience and a world of content that integrates broadcast and broadband television to go well beyond the confines of traditional pay television."
Ono and Tivo will also be working with other technology providers such as Nagravision and Cisco to implement and subsequently launch Ono‘s next generation TV platform.
