Users of TiVo Inc.’s Series2 digital video recorders will be able to program their devices from the Yahoo TV section of Yahoo Inc.’s Web portal, the companies announced Monday.
At Yahoo TV, TiVo Series2 users with a Yahoo user ID will be able to schedule recordings of television shows, as of Monday.
TiVo Series2 users have had the capability to program their devices over the Internet using the company’s TiVo Online Scheduling service.
Yahoo TV is a section of Yahoo’s portal devoted to TV content, including news, show times, photos and video clips.
Yahoo and TiVo plan to deepen their partnership in coming months by making some Yahoo services, such as photos, traffic and weather, available through the TiVo service, the companies said.
Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg found the announcement quite underwhelming. “Lots of buzz about the TiVo and Yahoo deal today but I’m not sure what the fuss is all about,” he wrote in his official Jupiter Research blog.
Gartenberg’s lack of enthusiasm stems from the fact that TiVo owners already can program their Series2 devices online, and that, according to recent Jupiter Research surveys, consumers aren’t interested in accessing the types of services Yahoo plans to provide through TiVo in the future. “The market has told vendors time and time again that they are not interested in this functionality,” Gartenberg wrote.