TiVo and Comcast have rolled out their promised joint service in the Boston area, with national distribution to follow. The service sends TiVo software to Comcast-provided digital video recorders in a first that TiVo hopes to repeat with other cable providers, USA Today reports. TiVo lost hundreds of thousands of customers when DirecTV turned to an in-house DVR.
The deal is a test of Comcast’s new Tru2way technology that will allow non-proprietary hardware, such as TVs and DVRs, to access interactive services such as video-on-demand. “The key question is, is it cool and slick enough to justify a premium price?” asks one analyst. The service comes with a monthly fee of $2.95, and $12.95 for Comcast’s DVR service. (More TiVo stories.)