Smarthouse is reporting that Seven Network’s Hybrid Television Services is considering bringing Nero’s LiquidTV | TiVo PC to Australia. As I covered back in September, LiquidTV | TiVo PC turns a PC into a TiVo DVR with most of the feature you get in a standalone TiVo, and a few you don’t. Seven, of course, launched the standalone TiVo in Australia a mid-year. Bringing the PC software to Australia would expand the market to media center PC users, and I’m sure leverage the guide data infrastructure in place for the standalone model.

Sorry for the wave of TiVo Australia posts, I keep getting new alerts with new info after I’ve already posted. Better than no news, right?

APCMag.com has more news on what’s coming for TiVo in Australia. By the end of the week Hybrid TV Services will be offering three games, Classy Couples, Sudoku and Wild Pair, as well as a world clock and horoscopes. Joining them soon will be PixelEye, a service which provides access to Photobucket and Picasa – which US TiVo users already enjoy.

Coming on February 3, 2009 will be a 1TB external drive, eSATA I presume. I’d like to see 1TB offered here, currently the official expansion drive is 500GB. Also coming in early 2009 will be the addition of DMG Radio channels Nova and Vega FM, providing music through TiVo. And they did confirm Domino’s Pizza ordering is coming in early 2009 as well.

They’ve also released some statistics. The first test title for broadband movie downloads, The Water Horse, has been downloaded by 25% of TiVo owners. And 73% of TiVo users access the weather information currently available via broadband at least once a week.

TiVo launched in Australia with a AUD$699 price tag and no subscription fees, and it has been doing OK base on past reports. But perhaps not well enough to satisfy Seven Network. Smarthouse reports that Hybrid Media Services, which was setup by Seven to handle TiVo in Australia launched a new TiVo offer. Under the new offer, called Flexirent, users are able to rent a TiVo for AUD$37.58/month over a three year period or AUD$48.22/month with a two year commitment. That would add up to AUD$1,352.88, or AUD$1,157.28, over the terms of the agreements. Conversely, it would eliminate the up-front cost, which may appeal to some users.

For users interesting in owning their TiVo outright, but for whom the AUD$699 cost is too much to swallow in one go, a 10-payment plan is also offered. AUD$69.90 a month for 10 months covers the cost of the TiVo.

The up-front, no fees and retail options remains for user who prefer that option.

Foxtel’s General Manager Box Office, New Media and Pay-Per-View, Brenden Moo responded by saying “I was under the impression that TiVo were not going to offer a subscription service their new Flexirent offering smacks of a disguised subscription fee”. That is one way to look at it, but he may be concerned as Foxtel’s pay-TV service subscription costs from AUD$37.95 up to AUD$105.95 depending on the package, and their iQ2 HD DVR is an additional AUD$200 up-front. So a TiVo subscription package priced about the same as their low-end offer with no up-front fee could provide some strong competition.

There’s another interesting tidbit on the TiVo Australia website, while they’re using MPEG-2 today for movie downloads, by March 2009 they plan to use MPEG-4 to reduce bandwidth usage and speed up downloads. Since other announcements for Australia have later appeared in the US it makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing MPEG-4 movie downloads in the US soon.

Seven Network, through Hybrid Television Services, has found another way to get TiVo to consumers in Australia – the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. Members of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program may now redeem their points to acquire a TiVo, or combine their points with cash in Points Plus Pay to obtain TiVo at a lower cost. If you’re a member of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program you’ll find TiVo in the Frequent Flyer Store.

Via Smarthouse.

Hybrid Television Services, which was setup by Seven Network to distribute TiVo in Australia, continues to expand their retail partnerships. The latest addition is David Jones, which landed an exclusive department store nationwide distribution agreement. They join specialty stores Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, Clive Anthony’s, and JB Hi Fi in selling TiVo in Australia. They’d be on shelves in David Jones stores starting November 10th, for the same AUD$699

Via Smarthouse.