Harvey Norman boss happy with Seven's TiVo launch

THE Seven Network's newly launched TiVo digital video recorder will offer users the ability to download YouTube internet videoclips to the box free by the start of next year, according to the man charged with selling the product outside the US.

THE Seven Network's newly launched TiVo digital video recorder will offer users the ability to download YouTube internet videoclips to the box free by the start of next year, according to the man charged with selling the product outside the US.

It had been thought that Seven could charge subscribers for additional features as they became available on the TiVo box -- which was launched yesterday in Harvey Norman stores -- including internet downloads.

But Joshua Danovitz, TiVo's international general manager, said: "We're going to make YouTube available free of charge from early next year."

The move is seen as a way of boosting sales for TiVo for Seven amid mixed publicity in the lead-up to yesterday's launch.

Seven is believed to be aiming for more than 50,000 sales of TiVo DVRs by the end of the 2008-09 financial year -- with 25,000 sales believed to be the break-even number for the period.

Mr Danovitz and Seven executives were cagey about how yesterday's launch had gone, leaving Gerry Harvey, the head of Harvey Norman -- which is selling the product exclusively for the next six weeks -- to do the spruiking. "It was way better than I thought it would be," he said last night.

"Maybe it's got something to do with the Olympics."

There have been suggestions the TiVo box -- which at the moment allows access only to 10 free-to-air channels, rising to 15 next year -- will lack the content available on the rival iQ2 DVR offered by pay-TV operator Foxtel, which features 90 channels.

But Mr Danovitz has dismissed the concerns. "The key is not that Australian consumers are limited by channels. I think what we are doing -- and Seven are doing -- is offering more control and flexibility over what, when and possibly where they watch. With web TV -- like YouTube -- there's a lot of content."

Mr Danovitz said this content would be expanded further with the upcoming launch of a movie and TV program download service from the internet. "In the US, TiVo has 30,000 titles available over broadband," he said.

The company was "pushing very hard" to have a similar service available in Australia by December this year. The company would add other "extra features over time" to the basic TiVo product.

The TiVo boss has deflected criticism that the $699 price for the TiVo box is too high.