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Project Lounge: TiVo to reach NZ lounges in time for Christmas

Bringing the PC to the world of AV.

By James Heffield / Tuesday, October 27 2009

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It's been a long time coming but TiVo will finally be available to New Zealand consumers in November.

Okay, it’s not strictly do-it-yourself home theatre PC territory, but the details of the TiVo launch certainly provide some food for thought for media buffs.

TiVo distributor Hybrid TV announced the impending New Zealand rollout of the product at a joint press conference with Telecom and TVNZ in Auckland recently, touting the company’s partnership with Telecom as a great thing for Kiwi consumers.

But only Telecom broadband customers will be able to use the pay-per-view features on the TiVo devices, which will be sold exclusively through Telecom retail stores, Telecom call centres (on the 123 number) and online at the Telecom website.

Hybrid TV CEO Robbee Minicola said the TiVo devices available in New Zealand would not require an ongoing-subscription and would allow users to record, pause and rewind free-to-air TV programs. A 14-day EPG allowing users to view upcoming programs across all free-to-air channels would also be available.

For Telecom broadband subscribers, weather, some games and a pay-per-view movie library featuring about 200 on-demand movies and new releases would be available, she said.

“In addition to getting the best of free-to-air digital TV, Telecom customers will have access to broadband entertainment [and] they will only pay for what they view instead of paying monthly subscriptions.”

Minicola said broadband-connected TiVo devices would allow users to store and play media from their PCs or other network enabled devices like mobile phones, iPods or Playstation Portables. They would also be remotely accessible via the internet or an internet-enabled mobile phone, so users could command them to record or download content when they were away from home.

Other features would include the ability to “season pass” a series, which would command your TiVo to find and record every episode of your favourite TV programme, or create a “wishlist” using keywords, enabling you to find and automatically record programmes that feature your favourite actor, director or sports team, she said.

Telecom Retail CEO Alan Gourdie said Telecom would sell the TiVo media device for $899, or $920 when purchased as a bundle with a wireless adapter. Telecom would also offer a deferred payment option of 24 monthly payments of $30 plus an initial upfront payment of $200.

Gourdie said downloads via the TiVo service would be unmetered and would not count towards Telecom broadband subscribers’ data limits.