MUMBAI: The creator and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR) TiVo Inc., and digital television service provider DirecTV, Inc. announced a three-year extension to the TiVo-DirecTV commercial agreement.

Existing DirecTV TiVo subscribers will be able to continue to receive the TiVo service, with TiVo providing ongoing maintenance and support. In addition, TiVo and DirecTV agreed not to assert patent rights against the other. The agreement also extends the advertising relationship between the two companies. DirecTV will continue to service existing DirecTV receivers with TiVo service. While specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, the recurring monthly economics of the agreement are similar to the economics for DirecTV receivers with TiVo service activated since 2003.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with DirecTV that will allow us to continue to provide our service to the more than 2 million DirecTV TiVo households. As the pioneer in the DVR market, we have created a service that is highly valued by consumers because of our technology, the wide range of our unique features and the unparalleled ease of our user experience. This agreement reflects TiVo's popularity among DirecTV subscribers and importantly respects the value of our intellectual property as well," said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers.

"By extending our agreement with TiVo, we are ensuring quality support for DirecTV customers who already own a DirecTV TiVo unit. We are pleased to cooperate with TiVo in a way that will best serve DirecTV and our DirecTV TiVo customers," said DirecTV chief technology officer Romulo Pontual.