CES rumor: Tivo to partner up with DirectTV and Dish Network

Las Vegas (Nevada) - Several Web sites have posted rumors about an impending partnership between Tivo, the video recording and scheduling service, and satellite TV providers, DirectTV and Dish Network. All three companies market digital video recorders and rumor has it that they will partner up to provide mobile content. While there are no official statements, it’s easy to see how this makes sense.

Tivo is a digital video recording (DVR) provider that sells both a scheduling service and hardware recorders. In addition to buying a set-top box that includes a built-in hard drive, subscribers pay $12.95 a month for the scheduling service. Instead of a monthly fee, subscribers can opt to pay a one-time $299 charge for scheduling. Tivo currently has more than 4 million subscribers.

Direct TV and Dish Networks have been providing competing satellite TV services for several years. Both companies provide hundreds of channels and have millions of customers. The companies have recently started selling their own line of DVR boxes.

DVRs have been extremely popular, but many users complain about the difficulty of transferring the content to other devices. Portable Media Players or PMPs, like the Creative Zen Vision and the latest Apple iPod have become the rage, but there seems to be a lack of content. A partnership between PMP makers and DVR/Satellite TV companies could solve this content gap.

Several websites are reporting that Tivo, DirectTV and Dish Networks will announce this partnership at CES 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada.