TiVo Announces New Enhancement to TiVo KidZone

TiVo Announces New Enhancement to TiVo KidZone

Parents Will Now Easily Be Able To Record Entire Menus of the Best in Children's Educational/Informational (E/I) Programming; Parents' Choice Foundation to Partner with TiVo

WASHINGTON, March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO) today announced an enhancement to its recently unveiled TiVo KidZone initiative which will give parents unprecedented ability to easily choose the best children's Educational and Informational television programming for their families.

Congress mandated in 1990 that television broadcasters provide at least three hours of educational and informational programming for children each week. This programming, typically scheduled early in the morning or on weekends, has been hard for parents to easily find and access. TiVo KidZone will help solve this problem. In addition to its other child friendly features, TiVo announced today that it will make sure parents can automatically program their TiVo's KidZone with a menu of children's Educational and Informational programming, or select their favorites from it.

"As a father of two teenagers, I understand that parents are the first line of defense -- I commend TiVo for providing parents such a valuable and easy to use resource to determine what programming is best for their kids. This major breakthrough of technology through public and private cooperation directly addresses the goals that Congress and the FCC had in mind when they created the children's Educational and Informational programming category," said U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet in the US House of Representatives as he kicked off the announcement.

In addition, TiVo announced a partnership with the Parents' Choice Foundation (PCF), the nation's oldest not-for-profit evaluator of children's media and toys. PCF will offer its own recommendations to TiVo subscribers for viewing within TiVo KidZone. This announcement follows a similar partnership announcement two weeks ago with Common Sense Media, the nation's leading non-partisan organization dedicated to providing consumer information to parents about kids and family friendly media and entertainment. Also announced was a partnership with The Parents Television Council, a national grassroots organization that has more than one million members across the United States, and works with television producers, broadcasters, networks and sponsors in an effort to stem the flow of harmful and negative messages targeted to children.

Each of these organizations will provide a unique set of viewing recommendations, allowing every family to discover and program high-quality content that fits its needs and values.

"Today's announcement is another important step in TiVo's commitment to provide positive, safe programming choices for children, and to make implementing those choices easy for parents," said Tom Rogers, CEO of TiVo. "With TiVo KidZone and the support of our partners, these expert children's organizations, high-quality educational and informational television programming recommendations will now be available for children whenever the TV is turned on."

"In new and powerful ways, TiVo KidZone will help Parents' Choice reach the families who depend on us to help them make informed decisions about which children's programming is right for their family," said Claire Green, President of Parents' Choice Foundation. "Where once parents accessed our recommendations on the Web or through newsletters, TiVo KidZone lets us deliver those recommendations directly to their living rooms. Parents' Choice Foundation looks forward to working with TiVo on this impressive new technology."

"TiVo has filled a giant void in the television marketplace, where parents have had to rely on a confusing ratings system in place of their own value systems. TiVo KidZone will allow those parents who share the Parents Television Council's concerns and values to easily implement our system for screening shows for children," said Melissa Caldwell, Senior Director of Programs for The Parents Television Council.

For decades, Congress and the FCC have worked hard to make sure broadcasters supply American families with constructive television content. Since 1990, broadcasters have been required to offer at least three hours of educational and informational (E/I) content for children per week. This month, after an extensive campaign by children's media advocates, that requirement was extended to cover digital multicast channels, which will mean even more E/I content for children.

Unfortunately, until now, this content has not been as useful to families and children as it could be. In order to take advantage of it, parents have to seek out lists of E/I programming submitted to the FCC by broadcasters, and then they have to remember what's on and when so their children can catch the program's airing. The E/I rating is not recognized by V-Chips or by parental controls on cable or satellite set-top boxes. Moreover, V-Chips only allow parents to block shows, not discover quality programming. In response to suggestions from the same children's media advocates who helped secure the latest Educational/Informational programming requirements, TiVo has decided to supplement TiVo KidZone with the ability to seek out and record shows designated Educational/Informational, as well as to exclude shows based on either the national ratings system or the parents' choices. TiVo is the only company to fulfill the vision of Congress and the FCC with an easy-to-use technology that seamlessly integrates with the award-winning TiVo(R) service.

Two weeks ago, TiVo announced the expected mid-year release of TiVo KidZone, a personalized TV area where children can always find the best quality programming that their parents deem appropriate whenever they turn on the television (live or recorded). With recommendations from a variety of respected national family media review organizations, and parents' own judgments, expressed through their living room remote controls or from anywhere through the Internet, TiVo KidZone offers families an unprecedented measure of control over their children's TV environment.

Subscribers can learn more about TiVo KidZone and sign up for the priority list found at www.tivo.com/kidzone to ensure the features are delivered to their boxes as soon as possible.

About TiVo Inc.: Founded in 1997, TiVo pioneered a brand new category of products with the development of the first commercially available digital video recorder (DVR). Sold through leading consumer electronic retailers, TiVo has developed a brand which resonates boldly with consumers as providing a superior television experience. Through agreements with leading satellite and cable providers, TiVo also integrates its full set of DVR service features into the set-top boxes of mass distributors. TiVo's DVR functionality and ease of use, with such features as Season Pass(TM) recordings and WishList(R) searches, has elevated its popularity among consumers and has created a whole new way for viewers to watch television. With a continued investment in its patented technologies, TiVo is revolutionizing the way consumers watch and access home entertainment. Rapidly becoming the focal point of the digital living room, TiVo's DVR is at the center of experiencing new forms of content on the TV, such as broadband delivered video, music and photos. With innovative features such as, TiVoToGo(TM) and online scheduling, TiVo is expanding the notion of consumers experiencing "TiVo, TV your way." The TiVo(R) service is also at the forefront of providing innovative marketing solutions for the television industry, including a unique platform for advertisers and audience measurement research. The company is based in Alviso, Calif.

About Common Sense Media: Common Sense Media is the nation's leading non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the media and entertainment lives of kids and families. Today, more than 4 million regular users go to www.commonsensemedia.org for trustworthy family friendly reviews of TV, movies, books, music, websites and games.

About Parents' Choice Foundation: Established in 1978, Parents' Choice Foundation is the nation's oldest not-for-profit evaluator of children's books, toys, video, music and storytelling, software, television, and magazines. The Foundation's mission is to provide parents with information to participate wisely in their children's learning. Parents' Choice has no commercial ties, maintaining its twenty-eight year tradition as an independent voice. www.parents-choice.org

About Parent's Television Council: The Parents Television Council (www.parentstv.org) was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity on television and in other media. This national grassroots organization has more than one million members across the United States, and works with television producers, broadcasters, networks and sponsors in an effort to stem the flow of harmful and negative messages targeted to children.

This release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to, among other things, TiVo's business, services, product development including the future release of TiVo KidZone, technology or other factors that may affect future earnings or financial results. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "intend," "estimate," "continue," or similar expressions or the negative of those terms or expressions. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include delays in development, competitive service offerings and lack of market acceptance, as well as those factors described under "Factors That May Affect Future Operating Results" included from time to time in the Company's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2005 and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended April 30, 2005, July 31, 2005, and October 31, 2005. We caution you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect an analysis only and speak only as of the date hereof. TiVo disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

NOTE: TiVo, TiVoToGo, Series2, Season Pass, WishList and the TiVo Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TiVo Inc.'s subsidiaries worldwide. All other company or product names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Source: TiVo Inc.

CONTACT: Krista Wierzbicki of TiVo Inc., +1-408-519-9438, or
kwierzbicki@tivo.com; or Amy Weiss, +1-202-203-0448; or Debra DeShong,
+1-202-528-4214

Web site: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Web site: http://www.parentstv.org/

Web site: http://www.parentstv.org/

Web site: http://www.tivo.com/kidzone

Web site: http://www.tivo.com/

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