TiVo KidZone Launches As Parents Concern Over Children's Television Viewing Soars

TiVo KidZone Launches As Parents Concern Over Children's Television Viewing Soars

TiVo-Ipsos Research Survey Reveals Huge Concerns About What Kids Watch on TV Over the Summer

TiVo KidZone Brings Parents Expert Guidance Ensuring Quality Children's Programming Is Always on Their Television

ALVISO, Calif., June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO), the creator of and the leader in television services for digital video recorders, announced today the availability of TiVo KidZone, a revolutionary new service enhancement that for the first time gives parents the ability to ensure that quality children's programming is always on when their children turn on their television sets.

The launch of TiVo KidZone comes at a time when there is a remarkable surge in children's daytime television viewing over the summer, which is also a time when TV viewing is even more unsupervised by parents and is a source of their growing concern. Parental concerns are highlighted in the release today of a new survey of 1,000 Americans, sponsored by TiVo and conducted with leading international research firm, Ipsos Research. The survey showed that 64 percent of parents of children under age 18 are concerned that their children will see television programming that does not reflect their family's values, especially as many of the country's children are beginning their summer vacation from school.

"TiVo KidZone answers the many concerns of parents revealed in this survey, by empowering them with a breakthrough new service and by also giving children a continuous array of engaging, high-quality programming to choose from whenever they turn on their television sets," said Tom Rogers, President and CEO of TiVo. "TiVo KidZone is offering families a personalized TV area where parents' own judgments and the recommendations of widely respected national family media review organizations such as Common Sense Media are easily and safely applied to deliver the best children's television programming."

"A number of parents of children under 18 say they are nervous about what their kids are watching, but 81 percent in the survey say they do not utilize any blocking technology that prevents programming with a certain rating from coming into their homes. It is clear that parents need an easy to use service like TiVo KidZone to ensure that quality TV is always on at their house," said Joe Miller, Vice President, Sales and Affiliate Marketing for TiVo.

TiVo KidZone is based on TiVo's easy-to-use interface and provides all parents the freedom and flexibility to easily find and select the television programming they deem most appropriate for their families while also making it simple to easily block any programs and channels they do not want their children to view. Announced in March 2006, TiVo KidZone allows subscribers to:

-- Choose from entire menus of shows recommended by a variety of leading
non-profit organizations focused on children and media including Common
Sense Media, Parents' Choice Foundation and the Parents Television
Council and set automatic recordings based on those recommended
menus -- from their homes or using the Internet.
-- Easily add or subtract specific programs or channels to further
customize what is available for children.
-- Lock out all other live or recorded programming or channels that are
not specified for TiVo KidZone from access by children, while making
all channels and recordings available when a parent wants to watch
television (after entering a four digit code, as with an ATM).

Highlights of the TiVo-Ipsos Research Include:

TiVo and Ipsos Research conducted the survey from June 5-7, 2006. It underscores the demand and need for TiVo KidZone, which is now available to all new TiVo subscribers and will be rolled out to all current TiVo Series2 subscribers as an automatic software download, included free with their service. Analysis of ratings data from Nielsen shows that actual daytime television viewership of children, ages 6 - 11, increases over 150 percent during the summer. In addition, adult and adult female viewing patterns during that time remain unchanged, implying that much of that increase in children's viewership is even more unsupervised than usual.

-- 64 percent of parents of children under 18 say they are concerned
(either very or somewhat concerned) that their children will see TV
that does not reflect their family's values or isn't safe to watch.
-- 55 percent of parents of children under 18 say they don't receive any
guidance in this regard, whereas just 19 percent turn to newspapers,
television or magazines to help inform those choices.
-- 81 percent of all Americans do not utilize any blocking technology that
prevents programming with a certain rating from coming into their
homes.
-- 62 percent of all Americans were concerned about what children are
watching on television, which compares with 64 percent of parents of
children under 18 who said they were concerned. This is a remarkable
state of consensus that reflects a consistency of viewpoints among all
Americans on this issue.

"We're happy to be able to offer this new feature to our customers as an added benefit of TiVo," said Mike Mohan, Vice President of Home Theater at Best Buy. "Best Buy is very focused on listening to customers and helping them get the most out of their home entertainment systems. TiVo KidZone is a great example of a feature that will help parents make informed decisions for their families."

TiVo KidZone will be included as part of the standard TiVo(R) service fee, and is available at consumer electronics retailers and online.

Subscribers can learn more about these features and sign up for the priority list at www.tivo.com/priority to ensure the features are delivered to their boxes before the full rollout of the service. For more information, please visit www.tivo.com/kidzone.

About TiVo Inc.

Founded in 1997, TiVo Inc. 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.

Source: TiVo Inc.

CONTACT: Krista Wierzbicki of TiVo Inc., +1-716-983-4260, or
kwierzbicki@tivo.com; or Kimberley Pierce of Sutherlandgold Group,
+866-262-7373, Ext. 114, or kimberley@sutherlandgold.com, for TiVo Inc.

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

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