Things are starting to happen for TiVo. TV3 and C4 broadcaster MediaWorks is set to sign-on (keep reading), and trials are about to begin.

But not all stars aligning for TVNZ’s new service. Here's a quick TiVo primer, plus where the major players sit on the deal, as of yesterday.

In March, TVNZ paid $A8 million to buy a one-third share in Hybrid TV, the vehicle set up by The Seven Media Group to manage its exclusive Australasian rights to TiVo, a US product - made by the company of the same name - that offers digital recording technology similar to MySky HDi.

TVNZ pledged a local TiVo launch by Christmas, offering a full range of free-to-air channels, broadcast to TiVo set-top boxes, which will receive a Freeview HD broadcast feed.

The digital recording service also has a logistical requirement: support from ISPs, given that TiVo’s  paid content will be delivered over broadband. In Australia, TiVo’s year-old service has a relationship with three ISPs that allow its customers to download pay movies, TV shows and games without the data counting toward their monthly cap. It will also be the key to interactive advertising, and e-tail features such as, um, the ability to order pizza with your remote. This is a different planet from NZBC.

It's key to note that TVNZ didn't buy New Zealand rights to TiVo; it bought a one-third share in Hybrid TV, so its fortunes now depend on how TiVo goes in Australia, too (so far, sales have been modest).

As the Christmas deadline approaches, here’s how the main players sit.

MediaWorks: suddenly sweetness and light
When I last talked to a senior MediaWorks manager about TiVo - shortly after TVNZ’s March announcement, he was implacably hostile to the deal.

The manager said it was completely wrong for TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis to assume that the TV3 and C4 broadcaster’s Freeview deal would automatically extend to cover “bolt-ons” like TiVo. Further, that the broadband-in-your living room requirement made the service too logistically tricky for customers.

Mr Ellis airily brushed off MediaWorks’ comments, saying all free-to-air channels would come to the party, just as ABC, Nine and 10 had eventually signed on for Seven Media’s TiVo launch across the Tasman.

Two months later, the TV3 and C4 broadcaster said it had held talks with TVNZ, but was still very snitty.

This week, Mr Ellis suddenly seemed prescient rather than smug as MediaWorks made an about face.

“There has been some reasonable progress actually and it’s fair to say we’re very close to coming to a formal arrangement,” said mar-comms director Roger Beaumount.

Mr Beaumount quickly skipped over the company’s earlier qualms about TiVo’s thirst for internet data: “It’s inevitable that broadband gets better. We were talking in terms of our primary issue being the IP around our listings. We’re close to a deal.”

Sky TV: Still holding out on Prime
Like Freeview before it (which this week finally secured Prime), TiVo will need Sky TV’s free-to-air channel onboard to have serious appeal.

Here, the news isn’t so rosy.

Chief executive Rick Ellis said he had yet to receive any approach on any level from TiVo. And he pointed to the fact that such deals took time and could be complex (the deal to put TVNZ6 and TVNZ7 on Sky TV ran to 30 pages for example, said Mr Fellet).

And like MediaWorks back in March, Mr Fellet said Prime’s inclusion on Freeview did not make it automatically available to TiVo.

Given Sky TV’s lock on most sports, and TiVo boxes likely high up-front cost, most analysts are blasé about the newcomer’s impact on the pay TV scene (read analyst comments here).

Still, Mr Fellet is, as ever, playing the long game, guarding against new competition by buying up internet rights to shows (typically sold in addition to broadcast rights). And this Friday Sky TV is set to add a remote recording function to MySky HDi that gazumps one of TiVo’s unique features - its ability to let you set recordings via a website (see the Aussie example here).

TVNZ: TiVo boxes piling up, ready to go
According to one insider, 100 TiVo set-top boxes are piled up at TVNZ’s Auckland office (which also houses Hybrid TV and its ranking local manager, Steve Browning - formerly the head of Freeview).

Staff have already been trialling TiVo. Now, alpha trials are set to start with members of the public. Tivo is has been soliciting triallists through its MyTiVo website

I signed up, though as yet haven’t been selected as a trialest, alas. The sign-up form has a lot of questions about your ISP plan, and how much data you’re comfortable downloading each month for TiVo use.

Pricing has yet to be announced. In Oz, a TiVo box pays $A699 up-front with a wireless media adapter add-on (which lets you stream content to and from a PC) another $A299 (there are also monthly installment plans).

Hybrid TV: cagey
TiVo’s man in NZ, Steve Browning, referred all queries to Hybrid TV in Australia. A rep for the company said it couldn’t confirm reports that TiVo would launch in New Zealand during the first week of November, or detail any media or ISP partners.

Telecom: warm fuzzies
Targeting Telecom Broadband (formerly Xtra) is an obvious play for TiVo. The ISP holds close to 60% market share.

Perhaps tellingly, Telecom is in the process of severing its commercial relationship with Sky TV (Vodafone is filling the gap).

And Telecom Broadband’s recently introduced all-you-can-eat data plan, Big Time, also goes a long way to being TiVo friendly (but not all the way, as speed can be throttled during peak times; which is not ideal if you’re trying to suck down a movie).
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Telecom said the company never comments on any commercial discussions with partners, but did offer some unsolicited warm fuzzies for TVNZ’s initiative, saying:

“We expect TiVo will provide an appealing and compelling proposition for New Zealanders.”

That does seem to be easily decoded corporate-speak for: Yes, we will support TiVo’s launch.

The question is to what degree: by expanding or boosting Big Time, or by offering a bundled data plan that includes - or at least subsidises - the cost of a TiVo set-top box

TelstraClear: Nope
A spokesman for our second largest internet service provider said “We've had no discussions with TiVo. We are developing our own PVR [personal video recorder.”

TelstraClear’s current cable TV bundle is fed by Sky TV. There are no plans for its custom-built PVR to be extended to the majority of the telco’s subscribers, who sit on DSL connections.

Vodafone: Sky TV-aligned
A rep for our third largest ISP offered: “Couldn’t comment sorry. We have a relationship with Sky TV which I’m happy to talk about though.”

Orcon: We’re trying to get it on with TiVo
At our fourth largest ISP, head of brand communications Duncan Blair complained: “We have been trying to talk to TiVo, but so far without success.

“There is definitely an appetite to discuss from our end, and would be a logical extension of the O Zone that has proven so successful with TVNZ OnDemand.” (O Zone is a TiVo-friendly add-on to a number of Orcon plans that sees any data downloaded from a number of partner sites - including TVZNZ videos - not countered toward your monthly data cap.)

Can he define "difficult?"

"They won't return calls," said Mr Blair.

That speaks to some serious arrogance and/or confidence on TiVo's part that it has an exclusive ISP partnership stitched up with Telecom.

CallPlus: We’re trying too
It was a similar story at our fifth largest ISP group (which also takes in Slingshot).

“We have been trying to engaged with TiVo, but it has not been an easy experience,” said GM Mark Callander.

For his part, Sky TV’s John Fellet is picking that TiVo will co-launch with an ISP offering a bundled unlimited, unconstrained data plan.

“And I think that [unmetered data] will be a good thing for New Zealand. You’ll see other ISPs follow.”