TiVo Calls on BellSouth for Marketing

TiVo said Thursday that it had reached an agreement with BellSouth that would allow it to offer its Series2 digital video recorder to select DSL customers of the company. Starting this week, existing high-speed Internet customers would receive a discount on a TiVo DVR and service.

Special incentives would be offered to those who subscribe to both services; however, the companies did not specify what those would entail. Additionally, BellSouth and TiVo would leverage each other's marketing efforts across the southeastern U.S., where BellSouth offers its services.

"With its strong southeastern presence and renowned customer satisfaction, BellSouth is uniquely positioned to market the benefits of a broadband-connected TiVo Box," TiVo business development vice president Naveen Chopra said. "Together, we can turn a DSL Internet connection into a pipeline for video content delivered directly to the television."

Equipping a TiVo Series2 box with a broadband connection opens up several new features to the user, including online scheduling, TiVoToGo transfers, TiVo Guru Guide recommendations, streaming radio, movie browsing and multimedia streaming functionality.

BellSouth is in the process of being acquired by AT&T in a deal that is expected to close by the end of the year. It is not clear how the merger would affect the TiVo partnership.