TiVo Catches Something Viral

Is TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO  ) about to regain its shine by piggybacking on the video-sharing revolution?

The DVR (digital video recorder) pioneer is rolling out the latest version of its desktop software, which will allow users to have broadband video in a variety of formats transferred over to their TiVo boxes for television viewing. Subscribers would have to pay $24.95 as a one-time fee to purchase TiVo Desktop Plus 2.4 (or receive it as a free upgrade if they had purchased the 2.3 version), but that may be a small price to pay for the ability to put an end to converting and burning DVDs of entertaining viral videos in order to watch them in a more comfortable environment than having friends and family huddle around a computer monitor.

TiVo isn't the only company leading the way in the convergence of Internet video and your television. Home entertainment appliances like the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) MediaSmart television and the upcoming Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) iTV are all hoping to make your home networks a little more lively by bridging the gap between PC and TV. However, once again, it is patent-rich TiVo leading the way for blander DVR makers to follow.

Yes, TiVo may be the only brand that matters in the DVR space, but the company is only selling about a third of the boxes out there. Cable programmers and satellite television providers have been marketing their own solutions, even though some like Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA  ) and DirecTV (NYSE: DTV  ) have played nice by licensing the TiVo technology to offer the feature-packed software functionality of TiVo.

I've checked my Sportsline fantasy football scores on TiVo. I've taken advantage of the TiVoCast offering to stream fresh movie trailers. I don't have any digital snapshots uploaded to Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO  ) , but it's good to know that I would be able to stream those as well.

I relish watching TiVo perpetually expand its offerings even as its share price contracts. I realize that the market is just to punish TiVo for its lack of profitability, but there are just too many intriguing things going on with TiVo to ignore.

Apart from the broadband video announcement, TiVo also announced a widening of its TiVoCast content, which includes programming from the likes of Forbes, dLife, and CBS (NYSE: CBS  ) . Gettting edgy CBS Innertube content like the Borat-inspired The Papdits for free on my TiVo? Sweet.

TiVo also announced a partnership with One True Media to allow subscribers to edit and share their home video movies on TiVo, and a marketing campaign through the ICM talent and casting agency to create TiVo user guides starring the firm's celebrity clients.

Three press releases in one day for TiVo? You've got to love it.

TiVo and Yahoo! are Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter recommendations.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz does check his fantasy football scores in TiVo, and his two teams are 7-3 and 5-5 so far this season. He does own shares in TiVo. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.