Seven's TiVo gets commercial TV go-ahead

By Ty Pendlebury on 22 June 2007
TiVo

The introduction of TiVo in Australia has overcome its first major hurdle with all of the commercial networks agreeing to share its program guide data, according to a leading media broker.

Harold Mitchell, chairman and CEO of Mitchell and Partners, Australia's largest independent communications group, claims that an agreement between the networks has been struck.

Mitchell said he spoke to Channel Seven CEO David Leckie this morning who confirmed the deal: "The free-to-air TV networks have agreed to the programming guide," Mitchell said.

However, he said that this didn't mean that Foxtel, which sells the TiVo-like Foxtel iQ, would be able to use the programming guide information from Seven and Ten: "Not at the moment ... they hate each other."

Foxtel customers currently receive analog transmissions of channels Seven and Ten, which are supplied without any programming information.

TiVo was introduced in the US in 1999 and has since become the defacto standard there for PVRs. The machines have the capability to record both cable and free-to-air television, but this is unlikely to be possible with Australian machines.

Mitchell claimed that Tivo wouldn't negatively affect ad revenues, but have the opposite effect: "People are able to ignore ads now -- they can change the channel. TiVo hasn't affected viewing in the US, and it will have the effect (in Australia) of increasing viewing five to ten percent. I think TV networks will adopt this without any trouble at all."

The Seven-backed TiVo systems will be available in 2008, and while a monthly subcripton fee will be charged, the actual amount is yet to be announced.

"TiVo will be priced to make it an attractive option, as opposed to the US where you have to pay $400 upfront" Mitchell said.

Representatives from Channel Seven were unavailable for comment.

Topics: channel 7, channel seven, tivo, foxtel, epg, seven, channel

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Comments (9)

  • nettiser commented on 12/02/2009 15:25 Report abuse

    I think that the cost does not justify the investment. What has changed? TV Guides on paper are adequate. Why should we pay for some half baked electronic guide that still may not be valid, because some sports program is deemed to be more important than the usual program, due to supposed ratings. Will the quality of programming change? I doubt it there will still be ridiculous B and C grade programs stuffed down our throats because it's Xmas and out of ratings time. Other than convenience of recording 2 programs while watching another ( over rated! get a life) I see no real advantage. I am wholly sick and tired of multiple and repeated adverts being hammered while the thread of the program is lost. 5 mins of program 3 minutes of ads ( eg LOST, 24, and other so called high profile programs are riddled with interruption for revenue) Fair go! allow adverts to be deleted or blanked out, then I might be interested. PAY TV? not for me I saw most of it when I was a kid and TV first came to air.. I dream of Genie, Mr Ed and other rubbish seems to be the norm of Pay TV and the ads are very deceptive. Always small print regardingf the true cost.. but free installation.. first month free etc. remember Henry Ford? He said he could afford to give everyone a free car and make more on spare parts. Pay TV is no different, they are now even inserting advertising, so where is the advantage? Nope! free to air should be just that FREE or join the rest of the media and become just another arm of Pay TV. Until TV becomes less advert loaded AI will stick to hiring DVD's and reading books..

  • GregA commented on 18/04/2008 08:19 Report abuse

    It's a difficult game for 7. They (alone?) are pushing the envelope in a slightly different direction... and people (and newspapers) don't quite get it. TiVo will be entirely capable of showing Freeview channels. It'll also do movie rental over broadband. It may even do payTV over broadband (hello SelecTV or TransACT?). Lets hope that whatever happens we continue to get competitive companies entering the market.

  • anonymous commented on 15/02/2008 13:31 Report abuse

    PS3 + Play TV = Gaming console, Blu Ray, PVR, etc. Everyone's happy.

  • mikedd commented on 02/01/2008 18:02 Report abuse

    This is yet another way the government majorly stuffed up TV in Australia. Had they forced the Free to Air stations to allow 7 days EPGs to be available freely this would have revolutionised PVR watching years ago. Instead we now have protracted lawsuits, bickering and fighting over plain TV guide data which most other countries make available for free. But that's what happens when the TV stations are owned by powerful media personalities that are in bed with all the government officials that make these decisions.

  • theaxisofoffal commented on 01/09/2007 17:01 Report abuse

    It's always annoyed me the amount of resistance which Free To Air networks in Australia have thrown up against EPGs. Even though the more innovative of us have been able to come up with TIVO like systems of our own, I see only good things coming out of the introduction of this technology to our fair shores. EPGs will become more commonplace, silly legal ranglings being fronted by the networks outlawing the compilation of their programs will become a thing of the past. Furthermore, once this technology takes off, networks will be forced to comply with scheduled times, otherwise face the wraith of public backlash (did you know that by law they are legally required to respond to any complaints which are forwarded onto them)......... anybody, ever tried to record a program and on playback got 80% reality TV and 20% of the intended show scheduled??

  • chrismrulz commented on 08/08/2007 12:56 Report abuse

    meh @ tivo.. i use my $50 hdtv pci card in my pc and get program/teletext data for free, and i can set shows to be recorded or play back tv whenever i want. tivo does nothing different. it's the same as how ipods do nothing an ordinary mp3 player hasn't already been able to do. the only difference is a brand name and about 5x the cost.

  • random commented on 27/06/2007 00:41 Report abuse

    Why should tivo cost anything. The program information that is currently sent show by show should include 2 weeks worth of info... then you can just use a PVR

  • Dennis commented on 25/06/2007 11:17 Report abuse

    The best thing about Tivo is the ability to set a season pass which will record your favourite shows whenever they are on - its set and forget. Its about time the TV exec's got their head out of the sand and went with the technology thats out there rather than trying to hobble it all of the time. Get the Tivo's to send back what they are recording so we can get the ratings crap sorted out - there are a lot of shows recorded and watched later and they don't seem to take this into account.

  • omnialpha commented on 23/06/2007 13:08 Report abuse

    The Tivo unit is a great product, when allowed to live upto it's full potential, but as usaul this will not be allowed to happen in Australia. The Networks/Pay Tv are still living in the 19th centuary, still running the compaies with some archaic mindset. I ask you, how many people are going to want to buy an overpriced TV guide with a continuing monthly subscription, I would say not many at all. Now I should say that I have been using a Tivo here in Oz for the past 5 years (slightly modified US ver) covering both FTA and Foxtel guide data and it is the best invention for the lounge room in a long time. I allowes me to record and watch any program at anytime and watch it when I want, not when the networks want. All I can say to Seven is work it out with the other Networks and Pay TV Channels. Do it Right the first time and you will have a great opportunity in this market that wont happen again anytime soon. Companies seem to forget that the average consumer is alot smarter these days (technology wise) and the sooner you realise this the better. I will leave you with a word you will need to know if you want to survive in the future...Convergence...Learn it, Live it and you will come to love it. You will finally see that what is good for the consumer is good for the company and not the other way around.

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