TiVo software coming to Pace set-top boxes
You may have never heard of Pace, but you might have some of its hardware in your house right now. If you're a DirecTV subscriber, that satellite receiver you rely on every day might actually be made by Pace. Or, perhaps the box your cable company gave you that you just never gave much thought to. The up and coming set-top box maker has recently even had some success with the biggest cable company of them all, Comcast. The latest partnership for the company trying to overthrow both Motorola and Cisco in the cable box space? TiVo. This global partnership will ensure that TV providers that buy hardware from Pace and software from TiVo will have almost no work left to do. In other words, it'll make way for an out-of-the box TiVo-verified platform. Pace indicates this will help answer the "strong interest" from TiVo's list of service providers, but that seems a bit optimistic. Our cynical side reminds us of all the great Sling powered hardware marketed to those same providers that years later, still has not been put into use.
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TiVo and Pace Announce Global Partnership
Leading Provider of Set-Top Boxes and Gateways Worldwide Working With Leading Provider of Advanced Television Solutions to Provide Flexibility for Operators Implementing Advanced Television Strategies
ALVISO, CA, Feb 22, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in advanced television services including digital video recorders (DVRs), and Pace (LSE: PIC), a leading developer of technologies, products and services for service providers, today announced plans to port TiVo's award-winning software to Pace's set-top boxes and gateways. This development will further enable operators around the world to quickly and cost-effectively deploy the renowned TiVo consumer experience to a selection of Pace devices.
"This global partnership with Pace is another step in achieving our constant goal of providing the TiVo service to an ever-expanding audience," said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. "The integration of TiVo's advanced television software with Pace's service provider optimized platforms will allow our mutual partners to offer TiVo's best-in-class linear and broadband TV experience with their choice of hardware. This answers strong interest from TiVo's growing list of service providers deploying the TiVo experience to their customers."
Pace has licensed TiVo's Hardware Porting Kit and will work with TiVo to build a TiVo-verified platform which will provide operators licensing the TiVo solution the choice of utilizing Pace set-top boxes and gateways. To simplify operational integration and speed to market, the solution will leverage Pace's proven provisioning and device management capabilities and provide integrated high-speed data connectivity for broadband communications and content delivery.
The solution will also harness TiVo's whole-home capabilities, such as multi-room streaming and support for both traditional set-top and IP clients, including TiVo's mobile and tablet applications.
"We are thrilled to be working with TiVo as they have a great solution for operators looking to answer their customers' increased demand for advanced and hybrid TV capabilities," said Mike Pulli, CEO of Pace plc. "We've seen increased interest from all segments of our service provider business to integrate the TiVo solution. In working together, we will provide an offering which seamlessly marries the operator's television and Internet services in an elegant and easy to use product for their end users."
Pace intends to offer implementations for both DVR and advanced gateway set-top boxes globally, with an initial product to be made available to cable operators in the Americas.
U.S. operators currently deploying TiVo offerings to their customers include Charter, DIRECTV, RCN, Suddenlink and Grande Communications, and European operators include Virgin Media, the largest cable operator in the UK, and ONO, the largest cable operator in Spain.
