DirecTV, TiVo Cozy Up Once Again

With a new owner, it appears relations between DirecTV and TiVo are on the mend. TiVo says a software upgrade is on the way to owners of DirecTV TiVo units.

Under the ownership of News Corp, relations between the two companies soured after DirecTV said it would opt for its own in-house digital video recorder system. However, the DVRs were not well received by customers, and News Corp's exit from DirectTV opened the door for TiVo to make a return.

Without DirecTV, TiVo has struggled to both make a profit as well as attract customers. Consumers have seemed to be more apt to sign up for TiVo service as part of a television package rather than as a stand-alone service.

Thus, the company has attempted to recreate the success of the DirecTV partnership through tie-ups with cable providers. It hasn't worked too well -- over two years after the first partnership was announced with Comcast, there still are not any widespread deployments of the service.

It may be too early to read too much into Wednesday's announcement, however it seems to make it possible for TiVo set-top boxes to appear again in DirecTV's lineup.

"It is important to us that our customers with TiVo service also have access to the latest DVR technology and we look forward to exploring additional opportunities with TiVo," DirecTV's content strategy and development chief Derek Chang said.

The update will be available to customers using DirecTV DVRs early next year, and will add several features that stand-alone TiVo users have enjoyed for several months, and in some cases, for four years. This includes online scheduling, the 'Recently Deleted' folder, and overlap protection.

TiVo said it will continue to look for other ways to implement features that may be missing from DirecTV's feature set at a later date.