Pizza, 'catch-up TV' on Tivo

AUSTRALIANS may not need to resort to piracy to watch television shows they have missed after digital TV service TiVo said it planned to launch a "catch-up TV" product next year.

TiVo yesterday also confirmed it had done a deal with pizza chain Domino's to enable people to order pizzas through their set-top box from next year and said it was in talks to offer grocery shopping.

Robbee Minicola, who heads TiVo in Australia, said the venture, which is part of the Seven Media Group, would launch a catch-up TV service next year for Seven's shows and hoped to add those of other free-to-air networks.

"Our goal for next year is absolutely TV via broadband," Ms Minicola said. "Catch-up TV is a critical thing."

Seven is repositioning TiVo as a media centre rather than just a digital video recorder, and yesterday launched new services including a daily horoscope, free movie downloads, a photo-sharing service, digital radio content and a series of games, including Sudoku -- all of which are delivered to homes over a broadband internet connection to the TiVo box.

The TiVo services are free once consumers have paid $699 for a TiVo set top box and the cost of their monthly internet connection but eventually content such as movies will be offered either free and advertising-supported, or on a pay-per-view basis.