DVR pioneer TiVo has snagged an Emmy and also announced that Alaska-based GCI was the first North American cable operator to deploy Pace’s XGI gateway on its user interface platform.
On the Emmy front, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded the 2012-2013 Emmy Award for Technical and Engineering Achievement for Personalized Recommendation Engines for Video Discovery to TiVo. The Emmy honored TiVo’s whole-home platform, which includes the TiVo Premiere DVR, TiVo Mini and TiVo Stream.
“At TiVo, we don’t innovate to win awards, we do it because we love television and believe that consumers deserve a better experience,” said Margret Schmidt, vice president of design and engineering, chief design officer at TiVo Inc. “We are thrilled to win an Emmy for the TiVo Premiere and consider it further validation of the incredible work so many people at TiVo have put into creating the best interactive TV and whole-home experience on the market today.”
TiVo and GCI, GCI (General Communications Inc.), which is Alaska’s largest telecommunications company and the nation’s 20th-largest cable operator, first announced that GCI would be using Pace’s advanced gateway in August of last year.
Pace’s XG1 gateway features integrated DOCSIS 3.0 and transcoding capabilities, which allow GCI’s subscribers to access video streaming on multiple connected devices in their homes.
“The Pace/TiVo solution offers our subscribers TiVo’s award winning user interface to access and discover VOD and linear TV content, together with personalized recommendations and powerful search and discovery capabilities,” said Bob Ormberg, vice president of content and product development at GCI. “It also offers total platform flexibility for software development and service enhancements from our trusted and longstanding CPE partner, Pace.”
In May of last year, Pace and TiVo announced they had collaborated on the six-tuner, hybrid QAM/IP video XGI gateway that featured TiVo’s user interface.
The XG1 can run various high-definition, graphically rich user interfaces, including Rovi’s TotalGuide, TiVo’s advanced TV solutions and others.
“GCI is the first on a long list of service providers planning deployments of our solution this year. The reception by subscribers and the industry of this joint product initiative has been incredible,” said Tim O’Loughlin, president of Pace Americas.
TiVo counts Charter Communications, Suddenlink Communications, Grande Communications and RCN among its North American cable operator customers and Virgin Media over in the United Kingdom.
