TiVo Launches Integration with Amazon Alexa
Yesterday TiVo announced it is rolling out its integration with Alexa. TiVo first announced the integration back in January at CES and also has plans to integrate with the Google Assistant. The new Alexa integration now works with TiVo’s series 4 Premier, series 5 Roamio and series 6 Bolt DVR boxers. The boxes will receive a software update as well as a notification to customers on how to use the voice-first commands with Alexa to control their DVR boxes. The Alexa integration allows TiVo customers to change channels, launch a streaming app, and control playback functions like fast forward, rewind and pause and more.
More Options for a Voice Remote
TiVo claims it has approximately 22 million subscribers worldwide which means millions of consumers will now be able to control their TV through Amazon Alexa. It also gives Amazon essentially free advertising for Alexa as TiVo subscribers will now be alerted of the new integrations this week. The TiVo integration is one of many Amazon announced in March when it rolled out three new features for its Alexa Video API to give video services subscribers even more hands-free voice control. One of these features was the ability to record shows through Alexa, which is puzzling as it is not part of the current TiVo integration. Instead, users will have to use the voice search function on their remote to search for content and set recordings. Still one can see the convenience of having hands-free remote control for basic functions, something Amazon hopes will drive more people to buy an Alexa-enabled device.
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