Advertisment

AOL to launch Mystro TV service

author-image
CIOL Bureau
New Update

LOS ANGELES: In its annual filing with securities regulators, AOL Time Warner said that it expected to test the new service it has been secretly developing -- known as Mystro TV -- in 2003. At its core, the Mystro TV service would use a cable system to allow viewers to watch programming on their own schedules and with the ability to fast-forward and rewind, features that are built in to TiVo Inc.'s TIVO.O digital video recorders.



"Mystro TV will store video content at a cable operator's facilities and allow subscribers to access these stored programs through the operator's cable system at any time," the company said in its SEC filing. "For example, if Mystro TV is successfully developed and the appropriate rights secured from owners of video programming, a subscriber could use the Mystro TV service to watch a program that aired the previous day, or to begin watching from the beginning a show already in progress," AOL said.



The regulatory filing did not include any further details on when the service would be tested, its pricing or on the details of how it would work for viewers and broadcasters. AOL's holdings include TV networks Turner Broadcasting and the WB, Warner Bros. television studio, which produces "Friends," and Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable operator.

U.S. cable companies had bet heavily on alternative technology, including digital systems and video-on-demand services, which allow customers to buy and view programming any time they choose.

(C) Reuters

tech-news