Vubiquity and TiVo have inked a deal to integrate Vubiquity’s authenticated AnyVU streaming service with TiVo broadband-connected DVRs that are sold to MSOs and leased out to cable customers.
The integration, which does not target TiVo boxes sold at retail, will pave the way to offer ViewNow, a subscription movie package from Vubiquity that features more than 2,000 movies and is offered on set-tops as well as tablets, PCs and other IP-connected devices.
Vubiquity and TiVo will demonstrate the integration at next week’s Cable Show in Washington, D.C. ViewNow on TiVo will become commercially available in the third quarter of 2013, according to a Vubiquity spokeswoman.
Vubiquity said ViewNow, which delivers VOD titles to set-tops and connected devices in MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and adaptive bit rate formats, is currently offered in more than 10 million U.S. homes. A spokeswoman said Verizon FiOS, Redbox Instant by Verizon, and AT&T (for the U-Verse Screen Pack) are among the current customers of ViewNow. Vubiquity launched ViewNow in December 2012, when the company was still known as Avail-TVN. ViewNow is offered as a branded or white label service.
The integration will give ViewNow the opportunity to target its multiscreen VOD offering to TiVo’s MSO partners, which include U.S.-based providers such as RCN Corp., Charter Communications, Cable One, Suddenlink Communications, GCI, and Mediacom Communications. Some in that group, including GCI and Mediacom, are starting off with TiVo hardware, with plans to offer a six-tuner hybrid QAM/IP gateway from Pace that ports the TiVo platform.
“Vubiquity’s ViewNow service brings subscription movies to any device, anywhere, making it a natural addition to our strategy of providing the highest quality TV viewing experience to the subscriber – one that seamlessly and easily allows them to access all the content they love, whenever and wherever they want it,” said Thomas Elam, VP and GM of TiVo’s U.S. service provider service, in a statement.
