Virgin Media has announced impending plans to deliver Tivo to UK homes.

Tivo, the original PVR service, will provide “middleware and user interface software” for co-branded Virgin Media next-generation set-top boxes due to arrive in Blighty at some point next year.

Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media, said: “Our fibre-optic network combined with Tivo’s capabilities will allow us to offer consumers the most significantly advanced and compelling TV service available in the UK.”

Little has been said about how Tivo will operate on Virgin Media’s STBs in the UK. Presumably, UK Tivo will feel and function much like it already does in North America, where customers can, for example, automatically record an entire series of Lost and search for shows by actors.

Google already displays a link to the “Tivo UK Official Homepage”, though the site isn’t currently active.

In related news, Google has inked a deal with Tivo to let the search engine snoop on audience numbers as a way of fuelling its TV advertising business.

Tivo first came to the UK in 2000 on the back of a partnership with Sky and set-top box maker Thomson. Sales were suspended in January 2003, and there has been no official Tivo offering here since then. ®

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