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You may remember TiVo from the early days of DVR boxes, but the company is still around today. TiVo now sells streaming boxes along with DVR hardware and OTAs, and your next smart TV could have an operating system made by TiVo.
TiVo’s parent company, Xperi, today revealed its “independent media platform,” called TiVo OS. The new software claims to be the “first neutral platform of its kind,” giving TV and set-top box makers the ability to control much of the software’s appearance and functionality. The operating system will compete with existing TV software experiences like Android TV/Google TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV OS.
So why would TiVo want to develop its own TV software? Well, all of today’s TV software providers now push their products and services above competing options; for example, all Fire OS TVs heavily promote Prime Video. Full customization for TV makers was mostly limited to Android TV, which TiVo used for its Stream 4K device, but Google started limiting that with the introduction of Google TV. TiVo is now building a white-label operating system for TV devices, allowing TV manufacturers to more fully control the software experience while maintaining access to popular apps and streaming services.
It remains to be seen whether TVs running TiVo’s software will be more convenient and user-friendly for buyers, or will have the same amount of ads and clutter, just from other companies. TiVo says the software has “easy setup and natural voice navigation,” but it’s unclear what streaming services will be available.
The first “Powered by TiVo” smart TVs will arrive in 2023, starting with models from Vestel, one of the top three European TV makers.
Source: BusinessWire, TiVo
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