TiVo Names Tara Maitra VP and GM of Content Services

DVR vendor/service provider, TiVo, has appointed Tara Maitra as VP and general manager of content services. She will report to the company's VP of corporate development, Edward Lichty, and will be responsible for developing broadband content for the TiVo platform and for fostering and maintaining relationships with content companies. She was previously senior director of content development at Comcast, where she was responsible for day-to-day operations of the MSO's Select on Demand content offering--a collection of niche programming services delivered via VOD and broadband. According to TiVo, while at Comcast, Maitra helped create new channels through partnerships, acquisitions and the development of original programming. Prior to working at Comcast, Maitra was EVP and general manager of digital video at publishing house, Primedia, in which role she developed on-demand and broadband video businesses for the company's print properties: among other things, she launched video services on Comcast and Real Networks. She also held various editorial and management positions at NBC, including VP and general manager of CNBC/Dow Jones Business Video. In the latter role, TiVo says, she helped build and manage one of the first profitable streaming video Web sites to offer financial content through both subscription and syndication models. She holds a BA in journalism and psychology from Washington and Lee University.

TiVo has made no secret of the fact that it is eager to develop and acquire broadband content for its platform: at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, it unveiled its so-called "Tahiti Strategy" (see [itvt] Issue 5.82 Part 2) which states that TiVo should be an open software platform that allows third parties to develop applications and distribute content to the TiVo subscriber base, and that the company's development efforts should take into account the increasing likelihood that the Internet will become a major channel of video content distribution over the coming months and years.

Click http://www.itvt.com to subscribe to our free email newsletter, which contains all the news stories you see on this Web site, and additional breaking news and scoops, in-depth features, interviews, screenshots, videos, and other exclusive content you will not find anywhere else.