Tivo to launch personal TV service in UK

Tivo, which operates a subscription based television programming service in the US, has revealed plans to offer its service to UK consumers.The service allows users to control what, when and how they watch TV by enabling them to pause, rewind, instant replay and playback in slow motion any live television broadcast.

Tivo uses personal recorders with computer disks instead of a video cassette to record shows. Users can, using 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' buttons, instruct Tivo what shows they like and dislike, allowing Tivo to automatically record programs the viewer may want to see.

Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Tivo's chief executive, Mike Ramsay, said: "Although there is no set date, we are actively looking for partnerships in Europe."

He continued: "Obviously the UK will be the first place due to language simplicity. We will be looking to make progress this year and we will focus a lot of attention on the UK, as it is clearly a huge potential market."

Tivo also announced at CES this week alliances with Liberate Technologies and home entertainment rental giant, Blockbuster.

Liberate and Tivo plan to license and bundle Tivo's personal TV service and Liberate's TV navigator software platform to network operators. Liberate and Tivo will also work together to deliver service to an America Online TV (AOLTV) service in the US later this year.

The alliance with Blockbuster aims to expand the video rental chain's business to an entertainment service delivered through Tivo. The companies will develop a video on demand service to enable Tivo subscribers to get a selection of movies for viewing through their Tivo receivers.

Tivo enabled standalone personal video recorders are available from Philips and Sony.