(30 May 2007 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Australian integrated media firm Seven Media and Tivo which creates digital video recorders, have announced that Seven will be bringing Tivo to Australia next year.

Under the mutually-exclusive agreement, Seven Media Group will lead the creation of the digital platform to enable Tivo's digital video recorder and service, including the Tivo user interface.

The platform will be available for use by other broadcasters and broadband content owners to create a compelling, interactive, free to air digital terrestrial television offering. The TiVo Service will be available across Australia and will include internationally recognized TiVo features like SeasonPass recordings and WishList searches and allow users to access broadband content on their TV.

Through its new partnership with TiVo, Seven will deploy TiVo's leading interactive advertising capabilities to develop new integrated interactive advertising strategies for their very substantial number of broadcast advertisers.

Tivo president and CEO Tom Rogers says, "Every night, the vast majority of Australians turn to free to air broadcasters for their television entertainment. The Australian television market is on the cusp of a significant migration to digital television that will greatly expand the choices available on free-to-air television.

"We are excited to play a key role in driving this transition by partnering with the top television network in the country to establish Seven's leadership of this transformation.

"This new partnership with Seven will utilize Tivo's content search and discovery features, Tivo's powerful advertising capabilities and broadband video straight to the TV set. This relationship demonstrates our ability to deploy the Tivo service on the digital terrestrial, or DVB-T standard, which has now been globally adopted and will represent more than 100 million homes by 2009. It demonstrates the opportunities Tivo has to work with leading broadcasters who have substantial marketing clout to drive Tivo DVR penetration by adopting our hardware and software approaches to this globally important standard."

Seven Media Group CEO David Leckie said, "This association unites the strengths of free to air television and Tivo to deliver new digital services to the Australian consumer. Free-to-Air television is well positioned in Australia to benefit from the Tivo service in offering viewers the chance to easily find and automatically record the programming they want, schedule their viewing time and vastly extend their overall television viewing experience.

"Through TiVo, Seven will leverage our broadcast television and publishing businesses, deliver new advertising and marketing solutions, and expand our presence in new communications platforms, as we work in partnership with Yahoo!7 and Engin. As a broadcaster, we are uniquely positioned to promote DVRs while simultaneously defining the future of television advertising."

A number of major media organisations have expressed interest in participating on the platform. Engin will play a pivotal role in distribution and support of Tivo in Australia . Seven and Engin are finalizing distribution arrangements with other partners.