Connections

Dish Integrates TiVo Metadata Across Its Product Platforms

Dish Network has integrated TiVo’s metadata products across Dish’s platforms, including its DVR, linear TV and video on demand, the companies announced July 31.

The migration to TiVo’s rich metadata, including image-based content and TV program information, took just under five months, according to the companies. The deployment was also rolled out in a way they said was designed to minimize any impact across Dish’s entertainment ecosystem.

Other companies that use TiVo Metadata include Microsoft and Samsung, according to TiVo.

Explaining why Dish turned to TiVo for metadata, Niraj Desai, Dish’s VP of product management, said in a news release: “Today’s consumers want a visually-rich entertainment experience that makes it easy for them to quickly identify and access the content they want in real-time.” He added: “Through our long-standing collaboration with TiVo, we were able to integrate their enhanced metadata offerings and provide a cohesive and seamless entertainment experience across our product platforms.”

TiVo worked “against a compressed timeline” to migrate Dish to TiVo Metadata, Roz Ho, TiVo SVP and GM-consumer and metadata, said.

TiVo service delivers localized metadata that it said is consistent across 70 countries and covers 17 million TV shows, movies and sporting events. Its metadata includes descriptive information on theatrical, DVD and Blu-ray releases, according to TiVo. Powered by TiVo’s knowledge graph engine, its metadata service is “unique in its ability to determine the popularity of entertainment content and detect spikes in consumer interest — ideal for improving the relevance of search results and recommendations,” it said.

Benefits of TiVo metadata include: its deep, normalized descriptors on which search and recommendations systems rely and that are assigned by TiVo editors each day; the inclusion of localized metadata, images and trailers from North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia in a single database; the implementation of features including celebrity photos, Twitter feeds and Facebook pages; the ability to choose from File Transfer Protocol or Web-based delivery and leverage an industry-standard ID structure that facilitates implementation; the availability of information on programs airing within 21 days, including channel line-ups for interactive program guides; the ability to effectively merchandise clients’ content by organizing and prioritizing it based on popularity and buzz; and over-the-top links that are mapped to standardized IDs, allowing consumers to quickly find, buy and watch popular TV shows and movies online from leading retailers and streaming video on demand providers, TiVo said.