IPTV Deployments Featured Article

TiVo Pushing YouTube Videos to TV Sets

By Eve Sullivan, TMCnet Editor

TiVo has completed the technology to make YouTube (News - Alert) videos available on TV sets connected to its digital video recorder (DVR) boxes.

 

As part of an agreement with YouTube announced in March, TiVo (News - Alert) expects to roll out a software upgrade over the next few weeks.

 

Broadband subscribers with TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs will have access to the YouTube video universe. Viewers will be able to search by keyword or browse for content under categories such as featured, most recent, favorites or most viewed today.

 

“With YouTube content now available on TiVo on top of all the movies, music videos, songs and TV shows that are simply unavailable on cable and satellite, TiVo subscribers have more choice on their TV sets than any other TV viewers in the world,” said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers (News - Alert).

 

YouTube will arrive on TV sets just in time for the technology to play a role in this year’s elections. Earlier this month, both the Democratic and Republican national convention committees gave voters a chance to win a day on the campaign trail, and possibly a trip to the conventions, by creating videos that reveal which political party they support.

 

YouTube’s RNCC and DNCC convention channels already host content from past conventions such as Ronald Reagan’s speech at the 1964 Republican convention and Barack Obama’s address at the 2004 Democratic convention. YouTube’s deal with TiVo should push this year’s envelope even further.

 

Following in the tracks of YouTube’s participation in this year’s primary debates, TiVo’s technology should make it even easier for the candidates and political parties to interact with voters. According to TiVo, more than 3.7 million subscribers nationwide were using TiVo DVRs at the end of April.

 

“The partnership with TiVo extends our ability to make YouTube accessible anywhere and lets people watch what they want, when they want it,” said Hunter Walk, YouTube’s director of product management.

 

Fortune 500 companies such as Intel (News - Alert) already rely on YouTube videos to inform workers, partners and the media about their latest products and services. By making YouTube videos available on TV sets, TiVo will give businesses more flexibility to promote products and services.

 

The deal is also potentially good news for YouTube’s parent, Google, which has been looking for ways to boost ad revenues in the online video community. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the search giant’s advertising revenue from YouTube is likely to be about $200 million this year, falling short of expectations.

 

The YouTube site is currently being renovated to give PC users better ways to keep track of the available content. For example, customizable features will allow visitors to move around, remove and replace interactive modules. The new design includes personalized recommendations based on past views and favorites.

 

“YouTube users now have a simple answer to the question, ‘What should I watch today?’ as the personalized home page makes it easy to find the content,” Walk said.

 

Eve Sullivan is a contributing editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To read more of Eve’s articles, please visit her columnist page.