TiVo, Realnetworks in Rhapsody music deal
NEW YORK (Reuters) - TiVo and RealNetworks are set to announce an agreement on Tuesday that will allow TiVo subscribers to listen to songs from the Rhapsody digital music service on their televisions, the companies said.
Financial terms were not disclosed. Both services require a monthly subscription fee of around $13 a month, but TiVo subscribers will receive a free one-month trial of Rhapsody.
Consumers using the service will be able to search for music directly on their TV, browse charts of Rhapsody's most popular artist or tunes, or listen to thousands of radio channels.
For TiVo, the deal adds another feature to the television recording service provider system that already lets users play songs from their own collection on their TV, as well as lets them buy movies from Amazon.com for watching at home that day.
Michael Bloom, Rhapsody general manager said the deal will help expand the market for consumers of digital music.
"The big thrust for us is to try to expand the pie, bring digital music to more consumers," he told Reuters. "CD sales have been in rapid decline. This is one of the ways that we are going to help in that regard."
