Swedish cable operator Com Hem signed an exclusive deal with...
Swedish cable operator Com Hem signed an exclusive deal with TiVo, giving the DVR service access to an IPTV network for the first time. Com Hem said it will start the service in early 2013 over cable and IPTV, initially…
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installing TiVo in set-top boxes, but also providing it to smartphones and tablet. The deal with Com Hem, which has 875,000 subscribers and passes 1.7 million homes in Sweden, gives TiVo a replacement for its failed pact with Canal Digital. TiVo signed an agreement with Canal Digital in late 2010, but parted ways earlier this year as Canal weighed options including a possible sale of the company. “This agreement is a significant step forward for TiVo, because for the first time will offer our services over an IPTV network, underscoring our ability to offer TiVo via virtually any kind of infrastructure and through all kinds of devices,” TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said in a statement. Com Hem first offered digital services in 1997, using OpenTV middleware and Sagem STBs. Twenty applications were developed for the OpenTV system, but the service was dropped in 2003. The middleware was revamped and reintroduced as a VoD service in 2007 with Canadian supplier Espial. “We believe this is an incremental positive for TiVo -- building upon the success that the company has shown in Europe through Virgin Media,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams said.