TiVo and Alexa: Better Together

We are in the midst of a smart-home revolution. With the growing popularity of smart home assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, TiVo is expanding its role in the growing smart home ecosystem —one that enhances the consumer’s entertainment experience using advanced, far-field voice control.

That’s why we’re excited about our new Alexa integration. TiVo’s innovations are ushering in a universe of possibility that is making the entertainment experience more personalized, more connected and ultimately more enjoyable.

We recently spoke with Andrew Heymann, TiVo’s Senior Director of Product Management and part of the team responsible for making the Alexa integration happen. Here are his thoughts on it and how TiVo is shaping the ultimate entertainment experience.

Q: What can TiVo subscribers do with Alexa?

Heymann: Alexa can do many of the things you usually do with your TiVo remote. You can ask Alexa to change the channel (e.g., “Alexa, watch CBS” or “Alexa, go to Fox”) or launch an app (i.e., “Alexa, open Netflix”). You can even skip commercials for SkipMode®-enabled shows (“Alexa, skip commercials”) or quickly jump back eight seconds (“Alexa, go back”). With Alexa, you can control playback as well, like fast forward (“Alexa, fast forward”) and rewind (“Alexa, rewind”).

Q: How will TiVo subscribers benefit from this integration?

Heymann: With far-field voice control, life becomes more untethered for our customers. They can continue to enjoy watching their favorite programming with TiVo’s cool features even when they’re preparing dinner and their hands are too dirty to use the remote, or when they’re exercising, and they don’t have access to their remote. Life suddenly gets a lot easier.

Q: What are your favorite use cases with TiVo and Amazon Alexa?

Heymann: Pause and resume are my favorite features and I use them the most, especially when I’m watching live TV. I can leave the room, walk the dog, do the dishes, whatever, and never miss a minute of my favorite show.

Q: Any hints around what’s next for voice-controlled entertainment?

Heymann: We want to continue to invest in the Internet of Things (IoT) and far-field experiences with both Amazon Alexa and Google Home, which we have already started working on. We are also interested in hearing from the community on how they see the space evolving, and we want our fans to let us know how they’d most like to use these new technologies.