TiVo tries Hulu Plus and iPad streaming

TiVo's plans to stream Hulu Plus edged closer to reality Wednesday with word from a field tester that it was in live testing. A field trial is giving TiVo Premiere owners a month of free service in return for streaming the Internet TV online. He couldn't say to Engadget when TiVo expected to take Hulu Plus public.

The feature will only come to TiVos bought independently rather than from cable providers, since these have ruled it out to shelter their own businesses.

Customers are meanwhile getting a survey from TiVo asking them if they would like the TiVo iPad app to get live streaming. The questions raised the prospect of watching either live TV or recorded shows, either at home on the local network or remotely. Its app has so far been limited to using the Apple tablet as a remote control but could become a pseudo-Slingbox that wouldn't have to control the entire TV.

Such surveys are usually hints of long-term plans and might not see TiVo implement live streaming for at least several months, if at all.

By Electronista Staff