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TiVo Embraces More Web Video Content

According to USA Today, TiVo will step up its effort to erase the line between broadband video and conventional TV � and draw a sharper line between TiVo and in-house cable and satellite digital video recorder (DVR) offerings.

It will unveil deals to deliver Web programming from 10 providers for subscribers to watch on their TVs. "There's this exploding video availability on the Web," TiVo CEO Tom Rogers says. "But for most people it's not real until it's on your TV."

TiVo will add the services by the end of July for its subscribers who have their DVRs on broadband networks, about 400,000 of its 4.4 million subscribers, but not to those who subscribe via DirecTV. The announcement follows TiVo's deal last month to provide Web video from companies affiliated with online service provider Brightcove.

These and other recent enhancements are part of TiVo's effort to raise the bar for DVR services and show consumers that they get more value for the higher prices it charges vs. more basic DVRs from cable and satellite companies. TiVo and its programming partners say they're in on a potentially huge phenomenon. "We've been approached by a large number of video providers," Rogers says. "This is the beginning of a whole new world."

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