TiVo advances on smart TVs, streaming options for broadband partners

LAS VEGAS – CES 2024 – TiVo has broadened its manufacturing partnerships ahead of its coming launch of smart TVs in Europe and has launched a new "TiVo Broadband" brand for its expanding streaming video options for pay-TV operators.

On the smart TV front, Xperi, TiVo's parent company, said UK retailer Argos is on board to start selling Bush-branded TVs made by Vestel with the TiVo OS sometime this spring. And, following up on its original deals with Vestel and Sharp focusing on Europe, TiVo added another original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Konka, to make smart TVs powered by the TiVo OS for distribution in Europe.

Vestel began to ship JVC-branded TVs powered by TiVo's OS initially via retailers in the Czech Republic last year. TiVo-powered TVs will eventually be launched in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain and the majority of other EU countries.

TiVo also has plans to launch smart TV products in North America sometime later this year but has yet to pinpoint a launch date or identify any OEM partners for that market by name.

"I expect every quarter we'll have a new set of manufacturing partners to communicate," Tyler Winton, VP of business development at Xperi/TiVo, said here at the annual CES gadgetfest.

TiVo bills itself as an "independent" player in the smart TV platform arena, where it will compete with the likes of Samsung, LG Electronics, Vizio, Hisense/Vidaa, Google, Amazon and Xumo, the Comcast-Charter national streaming joint venture.

Say hello to 'TiVo Broadband'

TiVo also used CES to roll out "TiVo Broadband," the brand behind products focused on helping operator partners bring streaming-based video services to their broadband-only customers. The TiVo Broadband umbrella includes the TiVo IPTV platform focused on new IP- and app-based pay-TV services being rolled out by more than 100 partners, along with the integration of TiVo+ – the company's free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) service – and streaming devices such as Evolution Digital's Evo Force 1 and Fuse 4K streaming stick.

That combination emerges as several small and midsized cable operators continue to focus on high-margin broadband services and become increasingly indifferent to their own pay-TV services. Some have already decided to shut down their legacy pay-TV infrastructure and cede video to third-party streaming services.

TiVo is exploring the idea of developing an operator-distributed smart TV running its operating system, but the company has not announced any formal plans to launch such a product commercially. Comcast-owned Sky is using the operator distribution model for its family of Sky Glass TVs running Comcast's EntertainmentOS.

"If there's a partner interested in that [operator] model, we have all the technology to enable that," Winton said.

Connecting with the car

TiVo OS is also extending its reach into the relatively greenfield environment of the connected car, with an initial focus on several BMW models in the US, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and South Korea, with Japan on deck.

In Germany, there's a movement underway, thanks to "level 3" automation, to bring video to the front screen of the vehicle while it's in motion or perhaps getting a recharge, Winton said. Level 3 automation – for autos with capabilities such as collision avoidance and driver alertness checks – allows drivers to remove their hands from the steering wheel and temporarily divert attention away from the road.

Winton said TiVo also expects auto deployments of TiVo OS to be the first to introduce casual gaming, followed by eventual rollouts to TV-connected devices that run the platform.