TiVo Internet Service Provider for Australia

According to media reports, the Seven Media Group will offer its own broadband Internet service with the TiVo digital set-top boxes it distributes in Australia. The service is expected to start in April and cost $79 to $99 a month, including the TiVo set-top box on a two-year contract. This is a clever idea as it gives Seven a revenue stream from the TiVo (instead of a one off sale) and also an instant defacto Australian pay TV network. Broadband delivery can be slow: the movie I downloaded to my TiVo over the Internet took hours. But Seven could deliver some content over the Internet connection and some over its own digital channels. Seven would also have the capability to provide Google style clickable advertisements, customised for each viewer, which would make for a very profitable service.