We had the opportunity to sit down with TiVo today, and they had a few announcements to make. The biggest item is that they will soon be rolling out apps for other streaming devices that will allow you to watch live and recorded TV from your existing Bolt DVRs, and more.
The TiVo app will be available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV devices. They are targeting a release of the Roku and Fire TV apps in the second quarter of 2019. The plan is to release the Apple TV and Android TV apps in the third quarter. We asked if they had any plans for the Xbox One or PlayStation 4. They told us that they are considering it, but it’s not high on the priority list.
We were able to see the TiVo streaming apps running on all four platforms today, and they did look like they were close to being ready. The apps essentially act as a software version of a TiVo Mini VOX. You can watch live and recorded TV from your Bolt DVRs. That includes the cable and OTA versions. You can also schedule and delete recordings.
While some might wonder if bringing the app to other streaming devices might cannibalize sales of the TiVo Mini VOX. A company representative told us that they’d rather have more customers using TiVo wherever they can. They aren’t worried about losing a few sales on the TiVo Mini VOX.
Obviously this makes a ton of sense for secondary televisions. Picking up a Roku or an Amazon Fire TV is cheap and easy. You can also use these apps outside the home. If you’ve got a vacation house, or just plan to spend a few nights in a hotel, you can take a streaming device with you and still watch almost all of your live and recorded TV. The only major limitation is for users of the TiVo BOLT VOX that have some cable programs that have copy-protection enabled. If you’re already used to using the mobile app to watch content away from home, you can expect a similar experience.
The TiVo streaming apps will be available for free. They also don’t have an additional service fee. We look forward to checking them out soon.
Keep an eye on The Digital Media Zone for all of our CES 2019 coverage.
