The Network Digital Video Recorder (nDVR) promises unrivalled freedom for cable operators like Virgin to extend their catch-up viewing services.

It can also allow users to store their own recordings on the network, offering almost limitless capacity for subscribers to keep entire series runs of all their favourite shows in HD.

A prototype of the new TiVo box is on show at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, where Jeff Klugman, TiVo’s Executive Vice President of Product and Revenue, revealed Virgin Media is taking part in “a fairly small trial”.

The TiVo nDVR is designed to allow operators like Virgin to set their own rules as to exactly what it offers and how customers can use it. With no word from Virgin Media on when or if the new box will be available on its network, it remains to be seen exactly what this development will mean for Virgin Media’s cable TV subscribers.