TVGuide.com has gone a step beyond the network DVRs that several cable TV companies fought in the courts to get the right to use so they wouldn’t have to install and maintain a pricey DVR in every home.
It has added an online DVR service called My TVGuide.com, which lets users select, organize in one place and watch TV shows online whenever and wherever they want.
It even alerts users upon log-in if new episodes of their favorite shows are available for viewing online. The company said it may eventually send out e-mail alerts.
TVGuide.com’s Online Video Guide has accumulated more than 700,000 TV shows, music videos, movies and Web-only video content since it launched two years ago this month.
Paul Greenberg, executive VP and general manager, said the DVR function “makes it easy for fans to watch what they want when they want it.” He called it “an exciting development in the digital evolution of the TV Guide brand.”
In addition to launching “My TVGuide.com DVR,” the company recently launched integrations with social networks such as Facebook Connect, an iGoogle social gadget and a customizable iPhone application.
TVGuide.com attracts 21 million unique visitors per month. ComScore says it attracts the “most engaged” users who average five visits per month, 15 minutes per visit and 23 page views per person. Its demographics are the young and affluent fan base: Fifty percent are younger than 35, and 25% have a household income greater than $100,000 per year.
The new DVR function should give them extra time to work or play.
Movie studio Lionsgate, One Equity Partners and JPMorgan Chase jointly own the TV Guide Network, TVGuide.com and TV Guide brands. It acquired the TV Guide properties from Rovi (then Macrovision) in March, with Rovi keeping the database of metadata. TV Guide Network is a cable TV channel that’s available in about 83 million households. Cable TV operators offer it to compete with the satcos’ on-screen, interactive program guides.
Lionsgate is also an operating owner with Viacom and MGM in Studio 3 Partners, which offers EpixHD, the combo pay-TV channel/online video service that launched a few weeks back with Verizon as the first provider.
Subscribers to Verizon’s FiOS TV service can also watch for free on PCs and smartphones all the shows that Epix offers.