TiVo, the digital video recording company, is entering the streaming business, launching its new service Stream 4K, an Android TV-powered HDMI dongle.
Dave Shull, TiVo CEO, told Cheddar on Thursday that the company has seen an increase in viewership amid the pandemic, which is why they were undaunted in releasing Stream 4K.
“We’ve seen some really strong engagement from our viewers. We’re up 58 percent, in terms of viewership engagement across the whole TiVo platform, so that’s encouraging,” he said. “We think this new product launch, TiVo Stream, is ideally suited for what consumers want now.”
In a market dominated by Apple TV and Roku, the CEO said the $50 service is designed to merge both live and streaming options into one platform, so subscribers no longer have to switch in and out of apps to watch their favorite shows.
“We think there are some real problems with streaming today. We all love our favorite streaming shows, but we have to figure out what app is it on,” Shull said. “We solved all of that. We pulled together in one place.”
As more people continue to stay at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, Shull said this is the perfect time to launch. “Great timing. Now, we’re all concerned about our families and our friends and our neighbors, but we also need a little bit of entertainment,” he noted.
TiVo also partnered with Sling TV to give users the ability to record live television shows and developed a system of recommendations on live shows for users based on the time of day and which user is watching.
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