Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett is preparing to move elements of its set-top box infrastructure into the cloud as part of the cablenet’s relationship with TiVo.
“We have a roadmap in conjunction with TiVo, we represent a very significant proportion for TiVo in terms of gross ads, well over half, and we are in constant contact with them in terms of what the roadmap looks like,” Berkett told an investor call this week.
“It looks like moving the user interface to the cloud and then as we move in to the world of DOCSIS 3.1 and further on we’ll be moving the whole set-top box to the cloud in terms of storage and that will evolve”.
Berkett has previously expressed the intention of moving the entire installed base to a TiVo product. Already one third of TV subscribers have the advanced set-top box.
TiVo already has a zapper box product available to US cable customers. It runs the full TiVo UI and if connected to the home network can access the ‘Now Playing’ list from a set-top running in another room.
Berkett said he was comfortable with the pace Virgin was progressing in this area, which he said was either on a par with his peers or ahead.
