TiVo patent for DVR PPV
It's a long way from the wild west days of PVR, but this work by TiVo to develop a system to securely distribute and monetize Pay Per View and Video On Demand programming is fairly exciting all the same. The patents filed refer to purchasing MPEG-2 downloads, and differentiate between TiVo's own DVR service and the actual content provider, which will hopefully mean a bit more success in nabbing content for the service. There are descriptions of PPV and subscription methods for purchasing content, and the content is securely tied to the MAC address of your DVR's network adapter. The patents were filed in November, so it's anybodies guess as to when TiVo will actually roll out the functionality, but so far things are looking good for your entertainment convenience, and not so hot for your credit card balance.
[Via Zatz Not Funny]
Read - Patent 1
Read - Patent 2
