TiVo customers no longer have access to Sony Music‘s online music store, bandit.fm, through their personal video recorder’s CASPA video download service.
TiVo's Australian licensee, Hybrid Television Services, informed customers that it would be closing the bandit.fm service on June 27.
“Your TiVo media device and all other elements of the TiVo service including CASPA On-Demand movies and TV will be unaffected and will continue to operate as usual,” it told customers in an email.
Hybrid TV chief executive Robbee Minicola told IF magazine via email that the agreement had run to the end of the contracted period and "we are talking with other music providers to look at a better way to deliver music to our customers".
The CASPA service has been offered since December 2009 and allows customers to download movies, TV shows and other video content.
Just before the service was closed, the bandit.fm channel allowed customers to download and view 87 free music videos, 11 free interviews and six music concerts.
While there has been ongoing speculation that Hybrid Television Services, which is owned by the Seven Media Group and TVNZ, will sell the business or exit the Australian market, Minicola said "it is business as usual".
"Hybrid and its shareholders are committed to the TiVo service for our current and future customers – and that includes a VOD service (CASPA)," she said.
Earlier this year, the company announced that its market share had grown from 18 per cent in October 2010 to 29 per cent in December 2010, according to GfK data.
The IPTV sector is becoming more competitive ahead of the rollout of Australia’s national broadband network, which is expected to accelerate online demand for video content. Competitors also offering an online video download service include the Telstra T-Box, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation.