More channels to join TiVo EPG

TiVo's prospects have received a boost after broadcaster MediaWorks agreed in principle to allow TV3 and C4 listings to be included in the electronic programming guide of the much-anticipated net-connected personal video recorder.

MediaWorks marketing director Roger Beaumont expects a deal to be formalised soon.

A similar arrangement remains to be struck with Sky TV for access to Prime's listings. "For that to happen, both parties have to sit down and work out some sort of accommodation," says Sky chief executive John Fellet.

Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman, who helped broker an agreement that has brought Prime on to Freeview, indicated he would not get involved in any negotiations over the EPG data, saying it was a commercial matter.

Robbee Minicola, the chief executive of Hybrid Television Services, which owns the New Zealand and Australian rights to TiVo, has revealed TiVo will go on sale in New Zealand during the first week of November. "It is a dual-country box so people can move between Australia and New Zealand and bring their TiVo with them."

Hybrid sold nearly 40,000 TiVo boxes in its first year in Australia, where they sell for A$695 (NZ$850). More than 11,000 people have registered interest in TiVo on the company's New Zealand website.

TiVo will let people tune into the free-to-air FreeviewHD service and download programming and access services over the internet.

The OECD Communications Outlook 2009 report said New Zealand had the second-highest take-up of satellite television in the OECD, after Austria.

The number of hours households spent watching television was slightly below the OECD average at three hours a day. In the United States, the figure was 8.2 hours a day.

- © Fairfax NZ News