TiVo confirmed that Atlantic Broadband is the first operator that will roll out a leased version of the vendor's new Roamio DVR.
Atlantic Broadband, an MSO owned by Canada-based Cogeco Cable that serves more than 250,000 customers western Pennsylvania; Miami Beach; Aiken, S.C., and parts of Maryland and Delaware, will start with the Roamio Plus model when it unleashes its TiVo offer, TiVo spokesman Steve Wymer said via email, confirming a Bloomberg report.
The TiVo Roamio Plus features six-tuners, 1 terabyte of storage (enough to hold about 150 hours of HD video) a CableCARD slot, and an integrated video transcoder that carries a suggested retail price of $399.99. It can be paired with TiVo Mini, an IP-only HD client device, to enable whole-home DVR capabilities.
The Roamio Plus’s transcoding chip supports in-home streaming and sideloading (the ability to transfer shows and movies from the DVR to a mobile device). TiVo is preparing a software update this fall that will add out-of-home streaming of live TV and content stored on the DVR, but Atlantic Broadband has yet to announce if it will support that feature.
Atlantic Broadband and TiVo announced their partnership in June. The operator has not announced a specific launch date, but the original plan was to begin offering TiVo before the end of 2013. Atlantic Broadband’s Web page dedicated to new offering notes that the operator will lease the TiVo Roamio Plus for $10, and each TiVo Mini for an additional $9.99 per month.
Wymer said the devices to be deployed by Atlantic Broadband will feature a range of over-the-top video apps. Netflix, however, won’t be part of that mix, at least initially. Multiple industry sources confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal that Netflix and several U.S. cable operators, including Comcast and Suddenlink are in discussions about offering the Netflix service on MSO-leased set-tops.
TiVo unveiled its Roamio lineup in August, launching three different devices that originally debuted at retail. The Roamio family is the follow-on to TiVo’s Premiere platform.
