Tuesday, May 9, 2006

TiVo to Record Brightcove Content over the Web

TiVo's digital video recorders will be able to record broadband video published through Brightcove, under an agreement announced by the companies. The companies said their partnership will provide a method for almost any publisher of broadband video using Brightcove's Internet TV services to distribute content to TiVo subscribers. It also opens the possibility of monetizing the distribution through advertising, subscription plans, or pay-per-view.



Brightcove and TiVo plan to phase in a number of content partners and new downloading capabilities for a number of possible content partners of TiVo's going forward. Initially, all content will be offered for free to TiVo subscribers and may carry advertising within the content.



Broadband video content from Brightcove will be made available to any TiVo "Series2" DVR connected to the Internet. TiVo subscribers will be able to discover this content directly in the TiVo Central content management area on the TiVo box.



"TiVo has been a powerful factor increasing consumer choice and control over television viewing experiences. The Brightcove partnership will further empower consumers by allowing TiVo subscribers to find broadband video content via their TiVo or PC and send that content directly to their TiVo box where they can view it whenever they choose," said Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of Brightcove.

http://www.brightcove.comhttp://www.tivo.com

  • Last month, Brightcove, a start-up based in Boston, launched an open, commercial preview of its Internet TV service, which helps video content producers to build broadband TV channels and distribute their video through the Internet. Brightcove plans to launch the full commercial release of their Standard Services in the summer of 2006. At that time the company plans to announce a variety of service plans including options to pay for usage of the service as well as plans that allow broadband programmers to use the Brightcove services at no cost, and generate revenue, by participating in an advertising network or offering videos for sale and rental. Brightcove said it has several content developers, including Discovery, National Lampoon, and Oxygen, distributing their broadband channels with the Brightcove Premium Services.


  • In November 2005, Brightcove signed a video content distribution partnership with AOL. Brightcove and AOL will market a co-branded version of the Brightcove service as the self-service platform for publishing video on AOL.com. Through the syndication to AOL, publishers will be able to generate revenue from the advertising and pay media sales of their content on AOL.com and other video gateways on the AOL network of web properties.


  • As of March 2006, TiVo's total subscription base stands at approximately 4.4 million, which represents 45% growth over last year. TiVo-owned subscription gross additions were 221,000 for the quarter ended 31-January-2006 and net adds were 183,000. TiVo added 173,000 DIRECTV subscriptions in the quarter, compared to 379,000 in the third quarter of fiscal 2006.