TiVo has landed it second major European operator contract with an exclusive strategic relationship with the largest cable operator in Spain, ONO.
ONO will build a similar system to the one that Virgin Media is building in the UK, where broadcast and cable TV can be combined with internet delivered video using TiVo’s service to create recommendations, search, new forms of advertising and audience measurement across all the formats. The service will run on the growing ONO fiber optic network but also on other broadband services.
ONO will have an exclusive relationship with TiVo services in Spain and TiVo will be the exclusive software provider for next generation set top boxes deployed by ONO. This will include both DVR platforms and non-DVR set tops.
In much the same way as Virgin Media, this will also include delivery of the service over other company’s broadband lines and won’t rely on customers being attached to ONO’s network. This will take ONO services outside of its cable footprint. The Virgin network is almost ready for launch and will be out in the UK before Christmas, so we expect ONO to get to market about 6 months later though no timeframe was stated.
Rosal’a Portela, the CEO of ONO said, ‘Working with a strategic partner of the stature of TiVo, a pioneer and innovator in the development of a converged recording system and in the implementation of a new model of television in other countries, allows us to make the leap to launching the next generation of TV in the market. Our fiber optic network combined with the capacity of TiVo will position us at the cutting edge of advanced next generation services for the Internet and Television.”
The software implementation will feature the TiVo branded user interface and will enable a variety of best-in-class features that TiVo users in the US have access to including Season Pass recordings and WishList searches.
Nagravision and Cisco will help implement the new ONO TV platform. There has been no set top supplier announced for the Virgin Media deal but it may well also be Cisco’s set top division.