TiVo out and GuidePlus in

["Kenneth Watt" <kwatt@xxxxxxx>]

News Article ID: 3517
18 March 2003=20
TiVo out and GuidePlus in=20
THE decision of TiVo to leave the UK market, comes as Philips and
Thomson are gearing up for the launch of a new Electronic Programme
Guide (EPG) system called GuidePlus.=20

Invented by US company Gemstar, which developed VideoPlus, GuidePlus
costs viewers nothing to use.

Thomson is already trialing GuidePlus in the US with hard disc
recorders, but Philips now looks set to be the first in Britain with a
DVD-based recorder that works like TiVo and Sky+ - but without the =A310 a
month subscription which must be paid to get the necessary programme
schedules.

GuidePlus is funded by adverts.

TiVo launched in the US in April 1999, and in the UK in October 2000,
with hardware made by Thomson.

Sales were slow because dealers found it hard to explain what a Personal
Video Recorder does. Thomson stopped making TiVo PVRs in mid-2002 and by
October had sold all remaining stock through Dixons, John Lewis and
Comet.

TiVo claims total sales of 510,000 but only a very few tens of thousands
went into UK homes. The company made no formal announcement on
withdrawal from the UK market and did not refer to it during an
analysts' teleconference held in the US last week.

A Thomson UK spokeswoman said: "The TiVo service is independent of
Thomson and is provided directly by TiVo.

"Hence all current subscribers and new subscribers who are able to
purchase a unit, will continue to receive and be able to activate the
TiVo service as they do now.

"Customer service and support of the UK base will continue to be
provided by Sky. Thomson will repair any units under warranty and will
also provide a fee-based out-of-warranty repair service."

Sky continues to sell its PVR, Sky+, which is made by Pace Micro
Technology.

Thomson's decision to stop production of TiVo boxes came as the company
signed a deal with Gemstar to use GuidePlus in a hard disc recorder
launched in the USA last August.

Thomson has announced no plans for the UK but Philips is now on track to
build GuidePlus into the new DVDR 880 eight-hour DVD+RW recorder, which
is due to be launched in the UK, Germany, France and Holland in May.

The GuidePlus programme schedule data is broadcast in the TV signal's
Vertical Blanking Interval, like teletext. The EPG provides programme
information up to seven days ahead, and recorder programming is at the
click of a button on the menu.

The listings are updated four times a day and the EPG puts adverts on
screen alongside the progamme information.

Philips says the ITV network will carry the signal in the UK. The
receiver self-tunes to the EPG channel whenever it is in standby mode.

Although GuidePlus can display digital TV listings, it needs an analogue
off-air signal and tuner because there is no VBI in digital
transmissions. This makes GuidePlus unusable, in present form, with
digital-only receivers.

ITV has made no official announcement on its plans for GuidePlus, and
last week ITV's press office had not heard of the system or service.

A search on ITV's web site, however, throws up engineering information
about teething bugs e.g. "Gemstar GuidePlus fails to launch after
performing TV listings update" and "Key violation error may occur
after
downloading the TV listings".