iPad App delay for Virgin Media's TiVo down to network connectivity conundrum?

The plot thickens regarding the much delayed iPad app for Virgin Media's TiVo. PaidContent:UK now reports that the app is ready and has been submitted and approved by Apple.

So....where the frack heck is it then?

Well, TiVo doesn't have Wi-Fi built-in, and Virgin aren't a fan of customers having to wire-up their home network to TiVo, and as such are looking for a better way of connecting mobile control device (like the iPad and other tablets) to TiVo, instead of customers downloading the app and then realising that their router is nowhere near their TiVo:

And that poses a big challenge to operators - how can Virgin Media launch its fancy new app experience when it knows it will instantly disappoint thousands of consumers who can’t use it? And how does the company manage requests from customers who want its engineers to relocate their WiFi router or run extra cabling?

Virgin's Nick Ontiveros (TV Strategy, Digital Entertainment) recently explained on the Help and Support Forums that Virgin are looking for a better way to connect TiVos to other devices while talking about the delayed arrival of multi-room streaming (here and here):

....people hate wires, we've found, and not a lot of people have their TiVo right next door to their router. It's not going to help our customers win any interior design awards if we've got CAT 5 running through the home. We're testing through a better way to do it, so when we bring it to market it will be a finished product that everyone can use if they want it.

....With regards to wiring in the home, a lot of people just expect it to work over wi-fi, like AirPlay, or any other type of streaming video. I personally think that wiring people's homes is a really bad idea. It's not forward thinking at all, and the amount it will cost us in expensive CAT 5 will be for a solution that has a 2 year shelf life. The next standard of wi-fi (802.11ac) supports speeds of 500Mbps - it's just the way the market is moving.

I agree that wiring will provide the best experience today, and certainly our solution will be adaptive to respect the customer's wants and take advantage of existing infrastructure, but we want to release a solution that is clean, customer friendly, and flexible. We also have to look beyond box-to-BOX streaming, and onto box-to-device streaming as well. We won't be able to do that with an all wired solution.

So, what options are open to Virgin? Well, there's Homeplugs which I'm a big fan of, and which the likes of BT Vision use in order to allow their customers to watch VOD content when necessary. Then there are Wi-Fi adapters which are available for the stateside TiVo Premiere. In theory, a Wireless N adapter should have enough bandwidth to stream MPEG 2 HD, let alone allow an iPad and a TiVo to chat to each other.

As Nick Ontiveros states, there's 802.11ac, but as a wireless standard its not expected to become standardized until later this year and would require new routers for Virgin's customers.

Meanwhile, the waiting continues. Personally I'd just allow Homeplug owners the option to use them, and the app, while developing an alternative solution. But then I don't run Virgin Media and that's probably a good thing.

iPad app for Virgin Media's TiVo now due in....September??!!?

September. This year. Hopefully.

Another day. Another statement from Virgin regarding the mythical port of the existing iPad app for TiVo. This app was first mentioned way back in December 2010. PaidContent:UK has a pretty good analysis of the timeline for this app's continuing 'development', suffice to say that the new date for deployment is September. That's this year. Hopefully.

Virgin, what is taking so long to deliver apps for your TiVo? Come to think of it, where's the Android app?

PaidContent:UK sums it up nicely:

The Zeebox startup managed to build an iPad TV EPG with built-in social features, contextual show pages and click-to-buy in a matter of months, earning it a partnership that effectively makes it the supplier for such technology to Virgin rival BSkyB.

One more feature Zeebox users enjoy - an integrated TV controller that works with… you guessed it… Virgin Media’s TiVo….

In other words, Sky has beaten Virgin to releasing an iPad app for Virgin.

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”.

News snippets for Virgin Media's TiVo: 15.2 software rollout; Spotify; Sky; EPG

Some TiVo related snippets:

• The 15.2 software deployment dates for each regional headend (there's 50+ of them) will be announced later this week by Virgin Media, who will be eager to complete the task well before Xmas.
• The Spotify app is due to be released within the next month, following Virgin's announcement of their Spotify plans for TV, Broadband and Mobile customers.
• Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch, referring to competition from Virgin's TiVo, believes that "It’s always a trap to assume that customers think through the extreme of some technical gizmo, they think across the whole experience, simplicity, ease of use, and the importance of the user interface, which remains fundamental. Not to say that some gadget magazine might give you an easy quote."
• Speaking of Sky, they've come up with a PVR comparsion chart which, among other features,  highlights the lack of reminders and red button services on TiVo. I'm sure it won't be long until Sky have to update the red button section, along with the 'remote record from tablet' section.
• Speaking of red button - its available (and has been for a while now) on ITV, pressing the magic button on that channel just takes you to ITV Net Player content. Baby Steps, people.
• In my review, I mentioned that that "the assignment of EPG categories to channels needs some work. For instance, the HD category reveals the Sky Sports HD channels, but the Sports category doesn't. This is the same EPG limitation as on the legacy V+ HD, I could have sworn it would be fixed for TiVo."
  This issue has now been fixed - for instance, selecting the Movies Category will show both the SD and HD versions of the Sky Movies Channels. Likewise for Sky Sports.

Major software update for Virgin Media's TiVo will contain support for iPad Companion App

From NASDAQ:

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/08/11 -- TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), a leader in advanced television services and personal video recorders (PVRs), and Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ: VMED) (LSE: VMED), the UK's leading digital entertainment provider, today announced details of a key new feature coming to their next-generation connected TV offering which will allow customers to take control of the TiVo powered service through a cutting-edge iPad companion app. The feature will be made available as part of the first major software update for the system and is designed to build on the user experience of the award-winning service. Virgin Media plans to roll-out the software update, which will feature the companion app as well as other new features to be announced, in the coming months.

The TiVo companion app will allow Virgin Media customers to use their Apple iPads to interact directly with their TiVo service and extend their viewing experience beyond the remote control. After installing the free TiVo companion app, users can interact with the elegant, intuitive TiVo user interface directly on their iPads to search across Virgin Media's content, including the TV Guide and thousands of hours of content available through its video on demand library, without interrupting what they are already watching on TV. With just a couple of swipes on the iPad user can immediately and seamlessly begin viewing the content they have discovered via their TiVo app right on their TV.

Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, said, "The way viewers watch television is changing faster than ever. Partnering with TiVo has helped us develop the most advanced and flexible TV system in the UK ensuring our customers are able to enjoy the best connected television offering available in the market today. In less than a year since launch we are already building new features to offer our customers more ways to enjoy their service with an unprecedented user experience, and maintaining our position at forefront of technological innovation in TV. The companion app and other forthcoming enhancements we are working on form part of our long term strategy to deliver the most dynamic and user friendly multi-screen entertainment experience in the U.K."

Since its launch in December 2010, the Virgin Media: TiVo service has been heralded by mainstream media(1) as 'the most sophisticated piece of hardware you can connect to your television.' Users of the product are able to enjoy a host of content ranging from hundreds of traditional television channels to a myriad of content streamed directly from the online sources via BBC iPlayer and YouTube through its built-in broadband connection as well as Virgin Media's vast video on demand library all seamlessly folded into TiVo's award-wining user interface with its easy-to-navigate search and discovery functionality.

Joshua Danovitz, VP & General Manager, International, TiVo Inc., said, "Virgin Media is a partner that recognizes where the future of television is headed. Through working with TiVo, Virgin Media has quickly implemented an award-winning user interface with TV's most innovative features and functionality, available anywhere in the U.K. With the initial rollout of Virgin Media: TiVo Service underway, it is already driving more measurable user satisfaction than any other hybrid television experience in the UK further demonstrating that TiVo continues to be the best way to watch television, bar none."

TiVo and Virgin Media made this announcement during the 2011 IBC Conference which runs from September 8-13 in Amsterdam.

You can check out large photos of the App here, here, here and here. Meanwhile, Nick Ontiveros, Virgin Media head of TV Strategy (Digital Entertainment), posted on the Help and Support Forums that:

 ....the introduction of new features to TiVo planned for the second half of this year will not come all in a single update.

I just hope to set expectations because it seems that a rumour has been heavily perpetuated on this board that there is one all encompassing update to come. In actuality, there will be a large update, but other feature updates will follow very soon after this update (as their introduction had the update itself as a dependency).

The actual contents of the update (or should that be updates?) remain secret to anyone outside the beta trial panel, but we do know that improved picture quality for standard definition content is among the list of issues which Virgin are looking to fix. Red button functionality is probably on the list somewhere, indeed the website states that "Red Button functionality will be coming in the future to our TiVo service."

Virgin Media's iPad TiVo App really is Coming Soon

Remember that iPad app which I've mentioned again and again on this blog? Well, work is indeed underway on the app, as first revealed today by TechRadar:

It should (hopefully) have all the features from the existing app, including the ability to control multiple TiVos in your home. There's no word on an Android version, but since that's busy taking over the world, surely a Android TiVo App will follow......right, Virgin?

Meanwhile, Virgin Media TiVo customers with an iPad should look watch this video (again) and just replace the blue background for Virgin Red:

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. 

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.

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.”