Quote:
Originally Posted by andy_m
I can't see why netflix wouldn't want to be on Tivo, and I can't see why Virgin wouldn't want it there. So I'm beginning to wonder whether the deals they have with other on demand providers are preventing it?
Even i, as Tivo's greatest defender, am a little disappointed at the apps Virgin are making available on it. I player is excellent, despite it it'ss problems, you tube is rubbish, because of it's problems, the rest just take up space.
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For a start, the Cable companies now just narrowed down to Virgin Media have always worked with Front Row/Filmflex and therefore probably have an agreement in place not to add services which will clash with it, if it does, Filmflex is dead.
I know on Cable and Wireless up until around 1998, they had Sky Box Office as there pay-per-view near on demand service and then Front Row came along, Cable London didn't have any service until Front Row. So imagine what would happen if Virgin Media brought back Sky Box Office alongside Filmflex and offered them both!
The next thing is Sky Anytime, everyone knows how much Sky likes to create special terms for Virgin Media, like it would only supply a majority of its Sky HD channels when they had taken over Virgin Media Television. Therefore, Sky has probably pointed out that in order for Virgin Media TV customers to get Sky Anytime movies, they must not have additional services which may clash, they probably made Filmflex and Picturebox go because they were already present before Sky Anytime was added.
And finally, licencing,regulation and content responsibility of TV on demand may be holding it back, Currently, Viacom the owners of MTV,Nickelodeon and Paramount is currently in dispute whether Virgin Media should be responsible for it's content on demand. After 7 years of providing on demand content on NTL and Telewest, Viacom feels the need to throw the spanner in the works.
So to add content and apps such as the ones you would like takes a lot of effort and time to add for both Virgin Media and the provider. So you just have to wait for now.