As VP and general manager of content services at TiVo, Tara Maitra
is in charge of the company’s broadband content strategy–which
sees it aggregating a line-up of downloadable movies and
programming through partnerships with Amazon and around 60
other content providers, and also enabling subscribers to its
service to access video from the open Internet via a PC connected
to their TiVo device. The company also recently announced a deal
with YouTube that will enable its subscribers to access YouTube
videos directly from their TV set via their DVR. Maitra recently spoke
to [itvt]’s editor-in-chief, Tracy Swedlow, about the new deal with
YouTube (which sees the companies collaborating to replicate as
much of YouTube’s social experience as possible on the television
set); about the business strategy behind the company’s broadband
programming line-up; about the kinds of content that are proving
most popular with TiVo subscribers; and more.

[itvt]: Could you give us a little background on yourself? How long
have you been at TiVo?

Maitra: I’ve been at TiVo for about two-and-a-half years. I came here to
build and develop the company’s content services business. Prior to
that, I was at Comcast for over a year-and-a-half, working on the
original VOD efforts within Comcast’s programming group. Prior to
that, I was at Primedia, developing VOD channels and video services
related to the Primedia magazines. And before that, I was at NBC for
about six years, working on everything from CNBC to a streaming,
subscription-based online video product offering.

[itvt]: You actually started out in journalism, correct?

Maitra: Yes. I started out as a reporter and a producer, both at CNBC
and in local news. But while I was working at NBC, I got very
interested in streaming video and in how that might eventually evolve
as a business–that was back in 1996. I guess my interests developed
less down an editorial track and more in the direction of understanding
how this new medium of streaming video would allow you to distribute
content and create businesses on new platforms.

[itvt]: And today you’re in charge of TiVo’s broadband content
strategy–which seems to be a two-pronged endeavor: on the one hand,
the company is aggregating a broadband content offering via
partnerships with established providers, and, on the other hand, it
recently announced plans to open its platform to YouTube video. Could
we talk first about the first prong of this strategy?

Maitra: Yes. The thinking behind our broadband content services is that
we feel TiVo is the best way to experience television; and, with so
much new video content being created for non-linear platforms like the
Web, mobile devices, etc., we wanted to bring all that to the television
set via TiVo. So that TiVo would not only be the best way to
experience television, but would be the best way to experience
television regardless of the source–whether its on cable or satellite, or
off a server. So, in other words, we’re expanding the promise of DVR
so that it not only enables consumers to watch their content whenever
they want to, but also enables them to take that content from wherever
they want to–or at least from a much wider range of sources. It’s about
giving as much choice as possible to the consumer.

Our first premium content deal was with Amazon. They’re our anchor
tenant, so to speak. Amazon is offering television shows and movies on
a rental and purchase model, and today we’ve got more than 25,000
titles available to our subscribers through that relationship. In addition
to that, we’re working directly with broadcast and cable networks and
Web channels to make their broadband content available on our
platform on a free, ad-supported basis, so that there’s no additional
charge for TiVo subscribers. And today, we’ve already got something
like 60 providers launched.

[itvt]: TiVo’s broadband video offering is currently not available on the
version of your service you offer in partnership with Comcast. Do you
foresee Comcast–or your other announced MSO partner,
Cox–adopting it as part of their TiVo service?

Maitra: Well, I can’t really speak for Comcast. However, by the level of
investment that they’ve made in integrating their technologies with ours
and in working together, I imagine that they would view us as a
long-term partner, and they have certainly expressed interest in
watching everything we’re developing. Of course, it may be the case
that their interest in working with TiVo has solely to do with our user
interface–the way we present content, our navigation and
menuing–and that they’ll continue to see their broadband content
business as something entirely separate from that.

[itvt]: TiVo’s broadband content line-up is pretty broad: on the one
hand, you’re working with established brands like the New York Times
and Nickelodeon; on the other hand, you’re also offering your
subscribers alternative, Web-originated programming from entities like
Ask a Ninja and Rocketboom, and content from a range of niche
providers. What kinds of broadband content are working best in the
TiVo environment and why, and what kind of usage figures are you
seeing for your broadband content services?

Maitra: Of the 1.7 million broadband-enabled TiVo boxes that have
been deployed in consumers’ homes, approximately 800,000 are
actually connected to a broadband pipe. Over a period of a little more
than a year, those 800,000 boxes have generated over 20 million
downloads.

Certain types of content–particularly mainstream movies and television
shows–have proven very, very popular. In addition, a lot of the niche
content we offer has done a lot better than I, for one, would have
necessarily expected. For example, technology news from CNET
performs extremely well–which bears out our research: whenever
we’ve surveyed our subscribers as to what kind of content they’re most
interested in, technology has always scored very high. Cooking
programming and other special-interest content is also doing well.
Frankly, though, we’re seeing growth in pretty much all our content
channels, so we’re looking to continue to bring as much content as we
can to our platform, whether from well-known brands or from new
brands that are just emerging on the Internet.

To be honest, I’m interested in offering all kinds of content on our
platform. On the one hand, it’s important from a business and a status
perspective for a content provider to be able to offer “sexy” content like
blockbuster movies and TV shows, and we’re very interested in
continuing to do that. At the same time, what I find particular
interesting and satisfying about what we’re doing is being able to bring
to television content that was previously available only on the Web.
We’re enabling independent producers and programmers–who
otherwise would be restricted to offering their content on the Internet,
because the economics of niche and independent content preclude
offering it on television–to actually bring that content to the TV set in
people’s living rooms, even if the audiences are smaller. To me
personally, being able to do that is even more interesting than the
blockbuster movies we’ll be delivering.

[itvt]: As you’re probably aware, a lot of set-top box companies,
certainly in the IPTV space, are offering interactive TV games on their
platforms, and a lot of interactive TV games are now taking advantage
of the DVR hard drive to offer rich video and other multimedia. Does
TiVo have any plans to offer games as part of its broadband content
line-up?

Maitra: Nothing to announce at this time, but we are, of course, open to
discussing any interesting and compelling content for TiVo users.

[itvt]: Let’s talk more about the business models for your broadband
video offerings? How do your content providers generate income?

Maitra: Well, Amazon obviously is renting and selling content. Most of
the other content providers are offering their content on an
ad-supported basis: our content providers can insert advertising into
their video content on the TiVo platform, whether that be pre-roll,
post-roll, sponsorship, product placement or whichever other method
they choose.

[itvt]: And they then share with you any ad revenues generated by their
content on the TiVo platform?

Maitra: We actually have different relationships with different content
providers. In some cases, the content provider keeps 100% of the
advertising revenues, and in other cases we have a revenue-sharing
arrangement.

[itvt]: Does TiVo view its broadband video services more as an
enhancement and differentiator for its platform–as a loss leader that
will attract consumers to that platform–or is the long-term strategy for
them to eventually become a significant generator of revenues?

Maitra: We view broadband content and our presentation of and search
functionality for that content as a major differentiator of TiVo. No
other service integrates all of your viewing options in one user interface
and search, whether cable-, satellite- or broadband-delivered, and this
makes TiVo truly unique. We do generate revenue from content today
and will continue to do so, but our main focus is to market this
one-of-a-kind service as a reason to buy.

[itvt]: To what extent do you see your broadband video services
competing with Apple’s iTunes and Apple TV offerings?

Maitra: Certainly, if you look at Apple TV, there are comparisons to be
made between it and TiVo, in that Apple TV is a device that enables
you to view broadband video content on the television. I think the
major advantage our broadband video service has over Apple TV is that
TiVo is really the only service available today that actually integrates
your broadband video download options with your linear TV viewing.
It’s the only service that–through one menu, one search engine, one
remote–gives you access to all of your different kinds of television
viewing options.

It’s quite different from Apple TV or any of the other devices out there
that allow you to view Internet content on your television set. It
provides you with a single, integrated service, regardless of where the
content you’re watching is coming from. So I think that’s a major
differentiating factor.

[itvt]: As your broadband video services expand, do you feel there is a
risk that the MSO’s with which you’re working on securing
relationships, will start to see you as a competitor?

Maitra: We work closely with the MSO’s. I don’t see a big risk there.

[itvt]: In addition to this managed line-up of downloadable premium
content you’ve secured through partnerships with various content
providers, you’re also making it possible for your subscribers to access
Internet video content in general, correct?

Maitra: Yes. We have a separate offering, which we refer to as “Web
Season Pass.” If you download and purchase our TiVo Desktop Plus
software, you can–using your TiVo remote control–search for, request
and pull in Internet video via RSS feeds: the feeds are pulled in through
your PC and sent to your TiVo for viewing on your television.
Basically, Web Season Pass gives TiVo subscribers access to any video
on the Web that’s in RSS format and free, by having your TiVo box
work in combination with your PC. As you point out, this is all over
and above the deals we’re doing directly with content providers.

[itvt]: TiVo also has a new partnership with YouTube, correct?

Maitra: Yes. We’re very excited about YouTube. We think that having
the ability to access on your television set the thousands and
thousands–actually, millions–of videos that are available on YouTube
is going to be of great benefit to TiVo subscribers. It certainly helps us
deliver on our promise of bringing the world of Web video to the TV.

We’re working on developing the technology infrastructure for this
now, and the feature should be available sometime this summer. From a
technology perspective, implementing this feature requires us to enable
streaming on TiVo devices–which is something that we have not
supported previously. So this YouTube capability will be our first foray
into enabling streaming through the TiVo service.

One thing we’re doing is working very hard to preserve the
environment–the community feel–that you have with YouTube online,
and translate that to the television. We want people to have the same
experience of browsing, searching and discovering YouTube content as
they do online, but in a TV-friendly environment. From what I’ve seen
of the development so far, we’ve been very successful in doing that. So
we’re definitely looking forward to launching this feature.

[itvt]: Will TiVo subscribers be able to leave comments and participate
in the various other social networking features offered by YouTube?

Maitra: I don’t think TiVo subscribers will be able to leave
comments–at least not at first. However, as we continue to evolve the
service, we’ll certainly be exploring ways to make it possible to make
recommendations, and, in general, we’ll be attempting to recreate
YouTube’s social networking environment as best we can, within the
parameters of the television experience. Obviously, the YouTube
experience online will always be different from the experience on a
television. But we are working very closely with YouTube to preserve
their environment, as best we can, for the television world.

[itvt]: Now, in addition to enabling your subscribers to download video,
you’re also enabling them to upload and share their own video, correct?

Maitra: Yes. We offer that capability through a partnership with a
company called One True Media. The partnership enables a TiVo
subscriber to upload his or her personal videos online, and set up a
private, secure channel, through One True Media, that allows that
subscriber to deliver the video to another TiVo subscriber. The other
subscriber simply needs to enter a passcode provided by the sender.
When that passcode is entered, the video is delivered directly to the
recipient on a secure channel–downloaded via broadband directly to
his or her box. Once the passcode is entered, the recipient can play the
video from the TiVo menu’s “Now Playing” list.

[itvt]: Is TiVo interested in developing social functionality that would
complement all this broadband video content on its platform? For
example, things like the ability to recommend or discuss a piece of
video?

Maitra: I can’t speak specifically to any new development in those
areas–especially because I’m probably not even aware of half the
things we’re trying to do. What I can say is that TiVo continues to be an
innovator, and that you can certainly expect to see more from us along
the lines of advanced technologies and features that pertain to
broadband video, its presentation and social networking around it.

[itvt]: In what directions do you see TiVo’s broadband video offering
developing over the next year or so? What kinds of announcements
should we expect to see from you in this space?

Maitra: We will continue to innovate and bring in new partners to
provide compelling content to our subscribers. Unfortunately, I cannot
get into specifics, but definitely keep your eye on TiVo.

URL: TiVo

Next Live Broadcast of [itvt]’s Talk Radio Show

The next live broadcast of “The TV of Tomorrow Show with Tracy Swedlow”
is scheduled for Tuesday, May 27th at 9:00AM Pacific/12:00PM Eastern.
Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3, will discuss his company–which bills
itself as “an actual TV network for the Web,” and which produces its own
original, broadcast-quality programming–and the current state and future of
the broadband video space in general.

To listen to the show live, click here.

To call in with a question during the show’s broadcast, dial 1-646-595-4343.

To submit a question or comment via text, use the chat application that appears
on the show’s homepage during live broadcasts.

Archived Broadcasts

[itvt] is making past broadcasts of the show available on the show’s

homepage.