• WSJ.com, Wednesday, June 7, 2006 11:15 AM

You knew this was coming: today, TiVo will start making broadband video clips available on its digital video recording service. Subscribers get access to video clips from the NBA, the New York Times Co., the female-oriented portal iVillage Inc., and others through a service called TiVoCast, which becomes available at no added charge. TiVo execs said they expect the service to be successful because people prefer seeing video content on their larger television sets. Sure, it's a nice feature--but it's not enough for people to choose TiVo over a bundled DVR from their local cable provider. Web video can be seen on the Web--no one's dying to watch YouTube clips on their TV sets. That said, a huge chunk of online video viewing occurs during work hours anyway. Another problem TiVo will have is securing content distribution deals. Last month, the company struck a deal with Brightcove Inc., an online video distributor, that lets its users watch content through TiVo. That's a better deal for Brightcove, frankly--it's not enough to set TiVo apart.

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