AT&T confirmed a previously reported soft launch of whole home DVR. The service, called Total Home DVR, allows up to eight connected televisions to view recorded DVR content. AT&T joins Verizon FiOS who offers a similar product. Both companies are trying to gain a competitive edge, using multi-room DVR strategies to differentiate themselves over cable and DBS competitors. DVR differentiation will be interesting to watch over the coming months. Cable may try to exploit a networked DVR service, which could help level the playing field with multi-room DVR options. Networked DVR received a new lease on life after a recent court ruling in favor of Cablevision, which tried to launch the service last year, but was sued by several movie studios to stop it.

DirecTV announced that their relationship with TiVo has expanded and they will jointly develop and launch a TiVo powered HD DVR. According to the release, the new HD DVR “…will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo's Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone. TiVo will develop the new HD DVR for an expected launch in the second half of 2009.” The deal is non-exclusive, and DirecTV will still develop and market its own set top boxes. DirecTV and TiVo began marketing traditional DVRs to the DirecTV customer base back in 2000. The relationship went through a rough patch when DirecTV was controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. But since Liberty Media took a controlling interest in DirecTV, the relationship is on better terms.

HD DVRs are increasingly seen as effective competitive weapons. DirecTV competitors, especially on the telcoTV side with AT&T U-verse, have been leveraging HD DVR to their advantage. DirecTV hopes this development will add some muscle to their existing HD DVR options, since TiVo is seen as a pioneer and leading developer of DVR technology. The move could also help DirecTV continue its lead over DISH. DISH is in real DVR trouble because of a legal dispute with TiVo. So far it’s losing that legal battle, and may suffer serious DVR setbacks if the losing trend continues.

AT&T is apparently soft launching a multi-room DVR and HD VOD service. Readers are reporting to Engadget HD and BroadbandReports.com that AT&T is notifying select customers about the availability of the new services. There has been no official word from AT&T. AT&T is joining Verizon, who is also using a “whole home” DVR solution to try to get a leg up on their cable and DBS competitors. According to the initial communication from AT&T to its customers, the whole room DVR will be a “free” upgrade and will require no swap out of equipment. Verizon is featuring a free year of multi-room DVR service promotion through October 4th. Cable will soon fight back with a networked DVR solution, thanks to a recent court case won by Cablevision. Networked DVR does not require the more expensive DVR set top boxes, and perhaps will provide a cheaper and more differentiated DVR product.

Verizon announced their latest FiOS promotion which offers free HD DVR or free Home Media DVR service for 12 months. Their Home Media DVR is a multi-room DVR service and allows the viewing of recorded programs on up to six televisions throughout the home. Multi-room features are increasingly becoming a competitive differentiator among telco and cable competitors. Verizon’s new promotion is coming on the heels of Cablevision winning a network DVR court case that conceivably will allow them to offer a network DVR product. Network DVR allows service providers to offer DVR services without the need for a DVR capable set top box in the home, resulting in a potentially lower cost DVR service. Time Warner is also eyeing a network DVR product as a result of the court win. Is Verizon’s move a pre-emptive strike against network DVR? Perhaps. There are certainly other considerations for the promo, but it sure doesn’t hurt to have it in your back pocket when/if your cable competitors roll out a network DVR product. The promotion runs through October 4th.

Just as service providers get used to teeing up standard DVR and VOD services as competitive weapons, the new battlefront is already morphing into extending these services throughout any set-top-box connected television in the home. Comcast just announced the expansion of their AnyRoom On Demand service throughout New England. AnyRoom allows subscribers to start a VOD session in one room, and continue watching it in another room. The service is offered at no additional charge. The expansion comes on the heels of Verizon’s expanded effort to position their multi-room DVR product as a leading differentiating service. Multi-room DVR allows FiOS customers to watch and control recorded programs on multiple TV’s throughout the room. Verizon is marketing it as a single home DVR – no need to buy multiple DVRs. See Verizon’s latest commercial featuring NBA star Kevin Garnett below.

These new battlegrounds are setting the stage for the eventual connected home – a home where media of any kind can be distributed throughout to any appropriate networked device. It’s been the subject of many a PowerPoint deck or panel at your tradeshow of choice. We’re not there yet by any stretch, but these deployments are leading indicators of a future to come. Service providers will be challenged to ensure they too can offer these differentiated networked home product portfolios.

The long awaited marriage between TiVo and Comcast is official. Boston is the first market where TiVo licensed software starts appearing on Comcast DVRs. The TiVo “premium” service will cost Comcast customers an additional $2.95/month over their existing $12.95/month DVR subscription fee. In addition to standard TiVo functionality, the Comcast version allows subscribers to browse and search for content by keyword on both linear and VOD programming. The Comcast TiVo service will not offer some of TiVo’s broadband content initiatives, including Amazon Unbox. Comcast says additional markets will be coming on line during 2008.

The Comcast/TiVo alliance is a high profile tru2way partnership. True2way is the rebranded CableLabs ‘OpenCable’ initiative, whose goal is to provide a platform for easy integration of third party applications to cable networks. Comcast appears to be taking the lead with tru2way, having brought much attention to it at the most recent CES. Tru2way may prove to be quite an interesting development. If its goal of easy integration between third party developers/consumer electronics and cable networks proves to be reality, we could see a slew of innovation and new products for cable MSOs. Such a reality could offer some differentiation, and perhaps build competitive advantage for the cable industry. We’ll have to wait and see though. Even the TiVo/Comcast partnership was a long time coming. It took three years to get to market – an eternity in today’s rapidly evolving marketplace. Is it too late to matter?

Check out this Boston Globe (source for post image) post for more details about the Boston market launch.

Also, check out Will Richmond's analysis at VideoNuze.

Comcast and Panasonic announced the pending launch of the AnyPlay portable digital video recorder (DVR). The AnyPlay allows Comcast subscribers to take their recorded video content with them on a portable media player. The AnyPlay also acts as a HD set top box when connected to the subscriber’s television. In addition to watching recorded content, subscribers can play DVDs and CDs on the device. The device features an 8.5-inch folding display, stereo sound, and a 60 GB hard drive for video storage. Actual launch of the product isn’t scheduled until early 2009. When launched, AnyPlay will join Comcast’s competitor Dish Networks, who offers a similar product today, PocketDISH.

This Comcast announcement illustrates the continuing push for competitive advantage among triple play competitors. AnyPlay is the first commercial introduction of the cable industry’s new “tru2way” standard (formerly known as Open Cable Platform). Tru2way is a middleware platform that the cable industry hopes will lead to the development of numerous consumer electronic devices that interface directly with cable triple play networks. The end game here is differentiation, and cable hopes that tru2way and products like AnyPlay will help set them apart from their DBS and TelcoTV competitors.

Time Warner will offer a free DVR ‘like’ service in select markets. The service is branded as Look Back, and allows subscribers to watch television shows that they have missed on any given day, as long as they watch them before midnight. The DVR function is fairly limited. It doesn’t allow for fast forwarding for example, preventing subscribers from ad skipping. Look Back joins Time Warner’s other DVR ‘light’ service, Start Over. Start Over allows subscribers to go back to the beginning of a TV show if they have missed up to the first 30 minutes of the program. Time Warner is spending considerable time and effort with these trials to develop a long term DVR strategy.

DVR presents interesting challenges for cable operators. While it provides a great value add service to subscribers, it also alienates advertisers, an important revenue stream and business partner to multichannel video service providers. Finding the right balance between meeting subscriber demands and keeping advertisers happy is the desired goal. Time Warner’s experiments are providing them valuable data. Data they may someday be able to use as a competitive advantage.

TiVo announced the launch of a new HD DVR priced significantly lower at $299 than previous versions. The lower pricing is attractive, but so too is its CableCARD compatibility. The new HD DVR can also act as a set top box for subscribers, by meeting the new FCC mandate for retail set-top-boxes that are CableCARD compliant. It will be one of the first cable compatible set top box entrants in the retail space. The new box has other value add features including access to online content, particularly through TiVo’s Amazon unbox partnership. “It is the ultimate media centerpiece for the living room with the broadest selection of broadband content, right alongside your favorite broadcast and cable programs, giving HDTV viewers more choice and control than they’ve ever had before. And it can be used in place of the customer’s existing cable box,” says Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo.

This new development could set up a perfect storm for cable competitors. On the surface, the box is quite compelling. It combines HD and DVR functionality with a cable set top box for a relatively acceptable price point of $299. In addition, its retail presence allows cable companies to reach a captive audience, especially among HDTV purchasers. TiVo already has established partnerships with Comcast and Cox, but this new development conceivably extends de facto relationships to other cable providers. The impact on IPTV service providers may be more acute. At least DBS has a strong retail presence and can work to counter any potential success this new device may have in the marketplace. But IPTV operators have limited retail footprints, at least as it relates to consumer electronics retailing, where that captive audience will be present. Additionally, smaller telecom service providers beyond AT&T and Verizon who offer video services are challenged with DVR and HD applications. This new competing TiVo set top box may accelerate the competitive disadvantage faced by smaller IPTV operators who have limited DVR and HD options.

Time Warner COO Jeff Bewkes addressed the CTAM Summit audience yesterday and let it be known that he thinks the future of the subscription television model is VOD. Bewkes sees VOD as meeting consumers demand for content on their terms as well as a counter to the proliferation of DVRs. In his analogy, consumers wouldn’t need a DVR if all of their desired content was available in an on demand fashion. Bewkes also addressed the issue of advertising, which presents a problem for the video industry as a whole in an on demand world. Targeted advertising is the answer he believes. “It can be targeted. It knows you want fishing gear, etc.,” Bewkes said.

Conceptually, his points make sense. It doesn’t hurt that VOD offers cable MSOs (and IPTV players) competitive advantage over DBS providers – at least for the time being. Operationally, moving everything to VOD presents huge challenges. The server storage and bandwidth demands would increase significantly. But early indications suggest that VOD may well indeed become the norm for video consumption. Perhaps the future includes a hybrid of VOD and DVR, taking the best from both worlds. VOD provides the vast library of content and DVR provides the search/navigation functions and ability to record live events for future playback. Whatever the case, video service providers will be challenged to find the right mix to meet consumer demand, while steadily offering value add services to differentiate themselves from competitors.