Microsoft on TiVo deal

TiVo's surprise deal with Comcast underscores the notion that the cable company isn't inclined to rely on any one vendor of television software for its set-top boxes.

That might be considered bad news for Microsoft, which no doubt would like to expand its own relationship with Comcast, but the Redmond company yesterday downplayed the implications. Asked for a comment on the TiVo-Comcast deal, Microsoft sent along this statement from Shari Glusker, a group product marketing manager in its TV division:

"The Comcast agreement with TiVo doesn’t indicate any changes in Microsoft TV’s relationship with Comcast. We have a solid working relationship with Comcast and continue to work together on the deployment of Microsoft TV Foundation Edition software to Comcast’s digital cable subscribers in Washington State. Comcast has acquired licenses to deploy Foundation Edition to up to 5 million subscribers and the Washington State deployment is already underway. 

"The partnership between TiVo and Comcast is not limiting to us in any way. While for both basic and 'power user' DVR functionality, TiVo and Foundation Edition are very close feature-to-feature, Foundation Edition is a much more comprehensive digital TV software solution that enables operators to give their customers simple and elegantly integrated control of advanced digital TV services like VOD, DVR, HDTV and Interactive Program Guides. That makes Foundation Edition a very compelling solution for the operator that wants to be competitive in the long run."