Tekkish.com reviews Virgin Media's TV Anywhere/TiVo App

Tekkish.com has a comprehensive look at Virgin Media's TV Anywhere service:

Once you are tapped into the TiVo box through the application you can manage recordings, wishlists, series links and browse the EPG to world’s end. You can browse latest entertainment news, watch thousands of hours of ‘on demand’ and obviously the huge amounts of live television.

Overall this service is a must-have and will make fighting over the remote control at home a thing of the past. (This is because you will now fight over the iPad!)

The full article also includes a lengthy FAQ list with Virgin Media. Along the nuggets of info revealed is that streaming for all content will be available over both WiFi and mobile broadband.

Check out the full article at Tekkish.com.

Early reviews for Virgin Media's TV Anywhere service and TiVo app

The first reviews for Virgin's TV Anywhere service are starting to appear online, after a selected number of customers were invited to view the beta version of the service.

From Binary Moon:

When you're at home you will also be able to use the iPhone/ iPad apps as remote controls (no more losing the remote down the sofa!). The iPad remote in particular has been redesigned so that it's a lot nicer to use (including gestures and scrubber bars for adjusting your playback position). Due to the size of the iPhone screen the iPhone remote is essentially a photo of the Virgin Tivo peanut remote so not so nice - but still good as a spare.

From TQS Magazine:

Stream available channels (about 30 remotely, and 60 in the home on launch) wherever you are. Kind of like TV Catch Up, but better. If you’re in the house, your streaming won’t affect what’s on the TV either. You can stream a film in your room while your family/flatmates watch X Factor in the living room. Lovely....Ok, it’s really good. As well as turning your iPad into the world’s most expensive (and coolest) remote, Virgin TV Anywhere let’s you manage, explore and discover TV the way it should be – easily.

From BitchBuzz:

My only complaint about Virgin TV Anywhere is that you can’t watch shows or films you’ve recorded to your TiVo box, which seems like an obvious want from most customers. I’m told this will eventually be something Virgin will look at introducing – but in the meantime, just being able to hack into your box from, well, anywhere is pretty exciting.

From James Anderson (via Jameseh at Cable Forum):

In my opinion, the best feature by far of the Virgin TV Anywhere iPad app is the ability to switch between watching something on your iPad and watching it on your television. If you are browsing the guide on your iPad and see a programme that you wish to watch on your widescreen television, you can just do a flick gesture and in less than a second your television programme will start playing on the TV rather than your iPad. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is!

There's still no release date for Virgin TV Anywhere, with TQS Magazine mentioning that it could be available within the next 3 to 6 weeks. The iPad version of the app will be released first, with an Android version to follow next year.

Virgin Media's TV Anywhere Service: 30 channels to stream & enhanced for TiVo

More details have been revealed from Virgin Media and various media sources regarding the forthcoming TV Anywhere service, which will allow customers to stream around 30 live TV channels and over 2000 hours of On Demand content directly to their PC or Tablet device.

Virgin TV Anywhere will use adaptive bitrate streaming technology (currently used by the likes of Netflix and Lovefilm), so the more bandwidth available on your connection, the better the stream quality. For reference, 720p HD streams via Netflix only requires 3.5Mb.

According to CNET, streaming will only be available via WiFi. Recorded content won't be available to stream, but Virgin are apparently looking into offering that option in the future.

There's no word yet on what the available channels will be, but I wouldn't expect to see any Sky channels on the service since its likely that the likes of Sky One will be exclusive to stream on Sky Go.

Customers without TiVo (and Virgin are trying their best to convert you) will also be able to use Virgin TV Anywhere's web access on their PCs to enable limited TV Recommendations.

Customers with Tivo will also have access to a Tablet app which will allow you to remote control your TiVo and change channels, fast-forward and rewind live TV via buttons or gesture control, search and discover content, manage content and set recordings.

There is no extra charge for the service and all content will be available to stream regardless of what TV package you're subscribed to.

Virgin TV Anywhere is scheduled to launch this Autumn. The app will be available for Fruit owners from the iTunes store around the same time. Owners of Android devices will have to wait until 2013. If they can't wait until then, they should check out the excellent TV Catchup app from Google Play.

There's no connection details yet for the service, but I'm betting (hoping?) that CAT-5/6 cable is involved if the remote control functionality is to be responsive enough to use. The Virgin version of the TiVo iPad app had been previously delayed due to Virgin's desire to eliminate the need for extra cables within their customer's home networks (we can handle the extra cables, Virgin, really!).

City analysts quiz Virgin Media over lack of apps and iPad app for TiVo

Where is it then?!?!

Regular readers of this blog will know I've been disappointed with the glacier-paced rollout of decent apps for TiVo, which is looking increasing weak in this area compared to other home entertainment devices like Game Consoles, Smart TVs and Media Players - a point raised by City analysts during a meeting with Virgin following the release of the Q4 2011 results. Broadband TV News & PaidContent:UK reports that Virgin's COO, Andrew Barron, said that:

It’s the easiest thing in the world, because it runs in Flash to publish all sorts of stuff to it, but that’s not consistent with the TiVo environment, we want the Twitters and the Facebooks and the iPlayers

Okkkayyyy, I hate to nitpick, but a Facebook app was described as 'Coming Soon' within Virgin's own YouTube video (uploaded in June last year) to promote forthcoming TiVo apps:

But what about the delays for the iPad app? The one which was part of the reported features of the 15.2 software update? The one which some cunning customers have had kinda working now for quite a while?

We’ve got it, it works. Ninety-nine percent of companies would have rolled it by now - it’s stable, impressive - but we haven’t…We wanted to make sure early adopter enthusiasts will love it - but that, when it hits, it goes. mass-market quite quickly and is not viewed as some flaky application for enthusiasts but is polished and doesn’t generate calls to support. It shows you our philosophy - we’re a mass-market company.

There is a fundamental difference between what we’re trying to do with TiVo and what a lot of other people around the industry are doing. We are an open platform, we carry Spotify, we were iPlayer’s founder and largest distributor, we’re Sky’s largest distributor for premium content

Looking ahead, CEO Neil Berkett aims to have Virgin's entire TV Customer base (currently 3.8 million) on TiVo, "In five years time we’ll retire Liberate, in five years time our customers will be exclusively on TiVo, and I’m sure we’ll then be considering the son of TiVo”.

Virgin Media's TiVo: Hunting (again) for video-streaming apps; Lovefilm; Netflix

Screenshot of old Netflix app for stateside TiVo Premiere

A whiff of hope for Virgin Media customers hoping for a TiVo Netflix app was offered today, with Chief Executive Officer Neil Berkett stating that he wishes to add video streaming apps/services to Virgin's PVR such as Lovefilm and Netflix. However, its “early days” for any talks and Bloomberg reports that no announcements are imminent.

Berkett said that Virgin "want TiVo to be completely open, we’re talking to everyone." It should be noted that Virgin Media’s director of digital entertainment Cindy Rose said the same thing back in December 2010 when discussing content providers being apped-up for TiVo:

We’re talking to everybody...We’re very open to all of them. It’s just a question of doing the right deal, making sure our customers actually want it - power to the people; we’re a Virgin company ...If Lovefilm came along and said ‘we’ve got something that adds to this’, we’d be the first ones to embrace them - we’re not precious about that.

It also should be noted that Light Reading Cable doesn't fancy Virgin's chances of ever getting the likes of Netflix onto TiVo:

When it comes to combining TiVo and Netflix, it may be a case of wishful thinking for Virgin. In the U.S., Netflix's contracts with content providers prevent TiVo from adding the streaming service on boxes distributed by cable MSOs such as RCN Corp. , Suddenlink Communications and Charter Communications Inc.

So, while video streaming apps for Virgin Media's TiVo would be most welcome, I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for them to appear. Besides, breathing is good for you.

A review of the apps on Virgin Media's TiVo

A while ago I bemoaned about the lack of movie streaming apps on Virgin Media's TiVo. Perhaps I should have covered the rest of the available apps in that previous post.

When I reviewed TiVo, I said:

Its this combo of Apps plus dedicated broadband connection which makes this PVR ooze with potential. Virgin are already talking to potential suppliers of video content, indeed, Virgin have declared that they have no fear bringing Apps for the likes of Lovefilm (who aren't shy about getting their content on as many devices as possible), Blockbuster and Spotify to TiVo. Virgin intend to have hundreds of TiVo Apps available within the next 12 months, so, watch this space and dream of the possibilities.

Indeed, Cindy Rose, Virgin Media’s director of digital entertainment, explained while talking to PaidContent:UK in December 2010 that:

We’re launching with a handful (of apps); within 12 months, we’ll have hundreds. We needed to start with the household names.

It’s just a question of doing the right deal, making sure our customers actually want it - power to the people; we’re a Virgin company. We’ve got an online forum we’re moderating to ask what they want.”

It would have to be the right deal commercially and add value. If Lovefilm came along and said ‘we’ve got something that adds to this’, we’d be the first ones to embrace them - we’re not precious about that.

I wouldn't imagine for an instant that TiVo would or should have hundreds of apps by now, 13 months later. But a quick look at the apps page for TiVo reveals just 13 apps in total. To be fair, 2 apps have been recently removed, these were promotional movie apps for Harry Potter and Twlight.

As for the rest of the apps:

• YouTube
  The new version of this app fixed the issue of playlists and subscriptions not being recognised when you logged in. How? By removing that feature altogether, much to the disappointment of customers.
• eBay
  I mentioned in my review that you couldn't login to your eBay account to place bids. The situation hasn't changed since then which continues to make this app next to useless.
• BBC iPlayer
  Probably the best app on the platform at the moment, but its had its network issues. Plus, I have to say that the quality of streaming on the TiVo iPlayer app is inferior to the quality provided by the same app built into my Samsung TV.
• VM Shorts
  One of many promotional apps seen on the platform. Speaking of which...
• Sky Movies
  Ditto.
• Sky Sports
  Same again.
• CNBC
  Great. If you have stocks and shares.
• Twitter
  Would be so much better if it could be used with live TV, so that you could truly interact with live TV events such as sending feedback on the latest candidate who has just been fired on The Apprentice.
• Weather, Celebrity and Photo Gallery apps.
  Unchanged, to be fair they did the job already.
• Spotify
  New to the TiVO platform, can't really say much about this because it requires a subscription.
• Millionaire
  Addictive to play. Which probably explains why you now need to pay to play it.

Lets hope that the number of apps increases and soon, because TiVo is in serious danger of being left behind in this area when compared to other devices - my Samsung TV has 19 apps just for watching VOD content, while games consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3 allow you to watch streamed movies from Lovefilm and Netflix, which isn't an option Virgin's TiVo provides.

Sure, Virgin have a deal with Flimflex (who are the primary providers of VoD Movie content for Virgin), but if Virgin are so worried about stepping on Flimflex's toes, then why encourage talks with the likes of Lovefilm to get Apped-Up on TiVo?

Still, the apps should continue to come, and hopefully they won't all be promotional apps. easeltv's core framework application has already been used for apps on TiVo and that framework will also be used in future apps. Also, we have a BBC Sports app on the way.

Wanted: Movie streaming apps for Virgin Media's TiVo

The arrival of Netflix to the UK has me wondering (again) what's happening with the movie streaming apps on Virgin Media's TiVo.

So...where's the Netflix app? The one which is already available to TiVo Premiere users in the States?

Or come to think of it, the Lovefilm app?

Both companies have cheap streaming-only price plans available. Both companies allow access to their content on a wide variety of devices. There's other streaming services available from the likes of Blinkbox and I can access that on my Xbox 360, which now offers loads of streamed content after the last firmware update. I can even stream movie content from Lovefilm to my Sony Blu Ray player.

As blogged before, TiVo is in a unique position of allowing access to content via its own dedicated 10mb connection, which is free of STMing and other bandwidth caps - something which owners of other streaming devices would have to take into account. As such, streamed apps providing quality content could become the killer apps for TiVo.

Virgin Media's TiVo is in an ideal situation to deliver streamed content, especially films. So....why isn't it doing that?

What we've got so far instead are promotional film apps. App for new Harry Potter film? Check. App for new Twilight Film? Check. App for actual films.....erm, where are they? We know Virgin are willing to have these apps, they said so.....over a year ago.

The waiting continues. In the meantime, I'm off to watch some films on my laptop and worry about hitting my STM broadband limit because my TiVo is a movie-app free zone.

Virgin Media TiVo App News: Spotify to be bundled with broadband for "significantly less" then Spotify Premium Service; No progress on TiVo-Lovefilm App talks

PaidContent:UK has quotes from Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett, who plans to bundle Spotify with Virgin's broadband service for a:

Very, very low monthly subscription...We’ll bundle it in to our broadband for significantly less than [Spotify's Premium Service for £9.99

Hopefully that will be the case when using Spotify with the forthcoming TiVo app.

As for Lovefilm:

Virgin-Lovefilm discussions for carriage on Virgin’s TiVo have so far come to nought.

Harry Potter App goes live on Virgin Media's TiVo

Harry Potter fan? And Virgin Media customer? With TiVo? Then you're in luck, because there's a Harry Potter App available now on the next-generation PVR which includes several video feeds of trailers, interviews and cast talk from the UK premiere of the last Harry Potter movie.

The App also includes a twitter feed and several photo gallerys. For visuals and user interface, its probably one of the better apps on TiVo so far. More please, Virgin.

Virgin Media seal the deal with Spotify; TiVo App coming soon

Remember that potential deal between Virgin Media and Spotify? Well, today, the deal got real:

Virgin Media (NASDAQ: VMED) (LSE: VMED) today announced an exclusive agreement with digital music service Spotify that will make Virgin Media the only digital entertainment provider in the UK to offer the music platform across multiple services*. Making listening to and finding new music fantastically easy, worry-free and more affordable for Virgin Media customers, the pioneering partnership will see Spotify’s massive catalogue of over 13 million tracks available to customers however they choose, be it online, on the move through their mobiles, or in the living room through their TVs.

Virgin Media’s groundbreaking agreement with Spotify will mean over 4 million fibre optic broadband customers will have the option to access music online in a safe, legal way for the whole family whenever they want. Virgin Media will also be the only digital entertainment provider in the UK to integrate Spotify into its TV offering through its cutting-edge ‘connected’ TV service powered by TiVo, as well as being able to provide a bundled solution for customers with Virgin Mobiles.

Due to launch in the coming months, Virgin Media will be making Spotify available to both new and existing customers through a range of special offers. This will include both Spotify Unlimited, which will give customers unlimited access to Spotify’s full library of music, ad-free, on their computers, and Spotify Premium, which adds the ability to enjoy the complete Spotify library on the move through mobile devices. Customers choosing Spotify through Virgin Media will also benefit from exclusive features and content, as well as be eligible for special promotions.

So, what the hell does any of this have to do with TiVo? Well:

Retaining the flexibility and freedom of Spotify’s existing online and mobile services, Virgin Media customers will be able to seamlessly create playlists from millions of tracks, share songs or playlists with friends instantly through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as explore new music whenever they choose to. Virgin Media customers enjoying Virgin Media TV powered by TiVo®, the UK’s first next-generation ‘connected’ TV service, will be able to enjoy their Spotify service through a jointly developed app for subscribers.

Existing Virgin Media customers will get the first opportunity to take advantage of this exciting partnership with special offers and an exclusive sign-up window. Existing Spotify users that are currently, or become, Virgin Media broadband customers will be able to keep their existing accounts and still take advantage of bundled offers.

This deal will, in time for Spotify, open the door for up to 3.7 million TiVo customers on Virgin Media's network, once of course, all of those TV customers have been assimilated into the TiVo Collective. In the meantime, Spotify will have potential access to Virgin's broadband and mobile phone customers.

As for Virgin, the forthcoming Spotify app will only strengthen the appeal of TiVo. Its doubtful that streaming music to TiVo should be an issue for the 10Mb of dedicated bandwidth, and if the pricing for access to the Spotify App is right, then Virgin could be onto a winner here.

iPhone and Android control apps: Coming soon to Virgin Media's TiVo?

The Zatz Not Funny! site (and CEPro) report that TiVo plan to launch control apps for both the iPhone and Android. The apps would (hopefully) feature most of the options available from the existing iPad App, which will hopefully be coming soon for Virgin Media's Tivo later this year.



The arrival of such apps for Apple's iPhone and Goggle's Android phones and tablets would offer a cheaper remote option than Apple's iPad for Virgin Media customers. 

Photo Gallery App arrives for Virgin Media's TiVo

The new Photo Gallery App for Virgin Media's TiVo can be located - not surprisingly - in Home\Apps & Games.

It currently allows you to display a wall and slideshow of pictures from your Facebook, Flickr and Picasa accounts, once of course, you've linked your TiVo to those accounts.

You can also explore some default photos from Flickr and Picasa, and create a list of favourite photos. Like every other TiVo App, Photo Gallery uses the 10mb dedicated broadband connection for TiVo, so you won't have to worry about getting STMed while viewing your Facebook photos on your TV via TiVo.

Like TiVo itself, there's room for improvement for this App - for instance, pictures aren't resized to fit the screen if their too big, and the privacy policy looks like its been copied from one of Virgin's website's, with references to 'our site' -  I thought I was using a TiVo App?

Nevertheless, its always welcome to see a new App for TiVo. Lets hope that future Apps will focus more on delivering videos, like blockbusters movies for those who love films.

BBC's new syndication policy means removal of iPlayer content from Virgin Media TiVo's Backward EPG

While the update to the BBC iPlayer app has brought more Catch-Up content from the Beeb to Virgin Media's TiVo, one drawback is the removal of links (for now anyway) to that Catch-Up content from the Backwards EPG. Broadband TV News reports that:

The BBC has begun to enforce rules under its new syndication policy that prevents platforms from creating their own versions of the BBC iPlayer. This week Virgin Media was forced to remove direct access to BBC content on its new TiVo service, replacing it with the new BBC-endorsed Flash-based version.

A new contract signed between the cableco and the BBC means that instead of being able to access BBC content through its backwards EPG, Virgin TiVo users must instead go through the Apps and Games area. Alternatively, Virgin customers can continue to press the Red Button from a BBC channel, as is the case with boxes running the Liberate/TV Navigator middleware that remains unaffected by the changes.

Although the BBC syndication policy is yet to be officially approved by the BBC Trust, the BBC told Broadband TV News that it was working within the guidelines of the draft policy.

Virgin’s own figures show that 80% of traffic for the iPlayer is currently running through its own servers rather than those of the BBC. Although the proportion could fall now that the iPlayer has been separated from the rest of Virgin’s on demand offer – a move against the cableco’s wishes – it is still early days for viewer usage patterns to emerge. Broadband TV News understands that the link between the iPlayer and TiVo may be restored later in the year.

A positive for Virgin is that the new format will allow an increase in the amount of programmes available that will increase from around 300 to 700 hours on average. This brings Virgin into line with the iPlayer on connected TV devices.

BBC iPlayer app now delivers HD Catch-Up content on Virgin Media's TiVo

As reported by TechRadar (and eariler by the Virgin Media High Definition & TiVo Services Blog), the BBC iPlayer app has moved out of beta release and is now ready and willing to deliver HD Catch-Up content.

Other improvements include a much larger range of content (around 1000 hours compared to 350), radio shows, subtitling and signing. Virgin Media told TechRadar that:

The new service will also gain new functionality over time and supersedes the existing BBC iPlayer service on Virgin Media to provide the most complete TV on Demand service possible.

BBC iPlayer app arrives on Virgin Media TiVo

According to this thread over at the TiVo Community Forums, the BBC iPlayer app has gone live on Virgin Media's TiVo.

Unlike the normal DVB-C app on the V and V+HD boxes, the app on TiVo uses the dedicated broadband connection to stream its content and appears to offer a wider selection of content compared to the app on Virgin's older STBs.

TiVo talk from Virgin Media's CEO; iPad app is coming; No fear towards potential Blockbuster-Lovefilm apps

In the afterglow of Virgin's impressive 4th Quarter results for 2010, CEO Neil Berkett spoke to PaidContent:UK about the potential impact which TiVo will have on the company and its customers:

In the second half of the year, we’ll start running TiVo applications on remote device. There is a (TiVo) iPad app available today which we will launch in the second half of the year.

[TiVo] will be our middleware in a few years time, It will be the glue that brings the PC, TV and mobile screen all together.

We have no fears about bringing a Blockbuster or a Lovefilm [TiVo app] in to Virgin.

Coming soon to a TiVo near you?

The application and content is the key to the wallet but, in our case, it is not the wallet. It allows us to be completely open versus our competitors, who need to be closed.

By competitors, Berkett means BT and mainly, Sky, who have to push VOD content via copper-line phone wires. No such worries for Virgin who provide a 10mb (well, at least 10mb and maybe 20mb) fibre optic broadband connection for every TiVo box and who these days focus on providing content via their network instead of owning and providing content.

QWERTY keyboard on the sofa? Not on Virgin Media's TiVo Watch

Ian Mecklenburgh (Director of Digital Entertainment at Virgin Media) spoke to Videonet about the PVR box the vast majority of us are still waiting for. Ian mentions that the dedicated broadband connection could be used to deliver the proposed local TV services, as well the confirmed use of extended IP-based VOD services above and beyond the existing VOD services such as BBC iPlayer:

"There is a massive advantage for cable when you see how we are segmenting the pipe. DSL offers a relatively small and hard to manage [Quality of Service] pipe. What we are offering through our fibre optic network is what I call real television."

As for the vast number of customers currently on Virgin's legacy TV platform, "As customers move onto the TiVo platform it will not be totally unfamiliar to them. It is a better version of what they have now."

Referring to the coming invasion of TiVo apps, Ian mentions that:

"We can introduce more services faster than we could have before. Part of it is opening it up for alternative content providers and application providers and service providers. We are starting by replicating what we have today but will build different options into it."

And when you finally get your TiVo installed, the technician will then show you how it works, because "More than anything else this is about television. It is not just about on-demand content or [Over-the-Top] streaming or YouTube. People buy a TV to watch television and it has to be a simple-to-use service. It has to provide a simple interface and we have spent a lot of time on that."

"This is about television services and managing that for people and about how many remote controls you want to end up with. I don’t want a QWERTY keyboard on the sofa.”

Read the full interview at Videonet.

"So, did you listen to what the nice technician told you about me? Did you?"

No BBC iPlayer app for Virgin Media's TiVo?

According to Broadband TV News, the BBC will no longer be accepting requests from platform operators and receiver manufacturers to build separate versions of its catch-up TV platform, the iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer has been very successful on Virgin's TV service (which was the first TV platform to support the iPlayer) and at least some of iPlayer's content will also be available via TiVo, obtaining its content via Virgin's VOD service and the Catch-Up enabled EPG.

However,  the screen-shot below from the TiVo interface clearly shows an icon for a separate iPlayer application, which was believed to pull content via the dedicated broadband connection.

Today's announcement by the BBC may mean the lack of the IP-based iPlayer App on TiVo, and several other devices:

The move would impact platforms such as Virgin Media and its recently launched TiVo box. There is currently no BBC iPlayer app, instead the assets are made available through the main TiVo interface over DVB-C as opposed to IP. Although Virgin has been working with the BBC for some time there are concerns that the consumer experience may alter as the quality of the IP delivery is not as good as through DVB-C. The existing Liberate/TV Navigator version of the iPlayer was developed between the operator and the BBC.

Virgin believe that the BBC "is becoming increasingly prescriptive and inflexible in its dealings", but, from the looks of it, Virgin will have to pay the BBC development and maintenance costs to get the full iPlayer application onto their next-generation PVR.

Spotify's arrival on Virgin-TiVo may depend on accepting Virgin Media's UK exclusivity request

At the TiVo launch, Virgin revealed that they were in talks with entertainment companies in order to invade all of mankind their next-generation PVR with a wide selection of apps. One of them was Spotify.

Today, paidContent:UK reveals that:

Negotiations revolve around Virgin Media wanting UK exclusivity on offering Spotify - that’s something Spotify may be reluctant to give but which, having announced no such deals in over a year, it may need to.

Such a deal would give Spotify access to Virgin's TV, broadband, and potentially, mobile customers. Spotify have no plans for imminent announcements, let's hope that changes soon for future customers of Virgin-TiVo.

iPad Remote App and Multiple user profiles coming to Virgin-TiVo; Slide Remote accessory to follow?

Cindy Rose, Virgin Media's digital entertainment executive director, told PaidContent:UK more about the software development for Virgin's version of TiVo:

It’s based on the main TiVo software code tree. We’ve branched slightly to adapt it to the UK market. The U.S. doesn’t have catch-up, Red Button or a watershed - we had to make certain minimal changes to make it relevant for the UK. We also painted it red and corrected the spelling!

Other than that, we’ve stayed true to the core TiVo product. That will make it easier for us in future to stay consistent with TiVo’s main-line development roadmap.

Because of that, Rose was able to reveal that the fantastic-looking Apple iPad Remote App will be coming to users of Virgin-TiVo, allowing iPad owners to remote control and discover TiVo content via.....their urm, iPad, I guess:



Also coming will be multiple user profiles. This screen shot below is a mock-up from the TiVo Premiere user interface (thanks to Zatz Not Funny!), showing an example of multiple users, I'm assuming at the moment that each user would have their own wishlists and recommendations. It appears that the actual feature itself has yet to appear for the TiVo Premiere in the United States.

According to Rose, there's a chance that the TiVo Slide Remote accessory will become available to Virgin-TiVo customers as well:

And below, CNET review it:



Rose describes the partnership between Virgin Media and TiVo as a "long-term strategic alliance, It certainly isn’t a case of ‘here’s your product, bye’. We are moving ahead in lock-step. [TiVo have] also done a deal in Spain and Scandinavia - they are very much looking to Europe to drive some of their future growth. The UK for them is important because it will spur interest in other parts of Europe.”