Yahoo, TiVo Bring Web And TV Closer

Yahoo Inc. on Monday launched a service that lets subscribers use the Web to schedule recordings of television shows through their TiVo digital video recorders, a deal that reflects how TV is slowly merging with the Web.

TiVo's online scheduling feature is available through a special portal on Yahoo TV. The feature enables TiVo subscribers who use its Series2 DVR to schedule recordings from anywhere they have access to a computer with an Internet connection.

"Beginning today, we're giving Yahoo users -- whether they're at the office or away from home -- the ability to easily schedule recordings for later viewing," Tom Rogers, chief executive of TiVo Inc., said in a statement.

TiVo subscribers using Yahoo also would have access to the portal's TV listings, program descriptions, and exclusive content from partners such as "Entertainment Tonight" and Mark Burnett Productions, which produces "The Apprentice."

In the coming months, TiVo, based in Alviso, Calif., and Yahoo, Sunnyvale, Calif., will also make some Yahoo services, including photos, traffic, and weather, available as part of the TiVo service.For one analyst, the potential of Yahoo's move to the DVR was more interesting than the announcement itself, since TiVo users, who number about 3.6 million, can already program their DVRs over the Web.

The deal could, for example, open for the entertainment portal an avenue into offline advertising.

"TV is the big bucket for offline advertising," Joe Wilcox, analyst for JupiterResearch said. "(And) there's a number of ways that Yahoo could exploit this as a way to cross the advertising gulf between online and offline."