Friday, October 21 12:00 AM ET

TiVo Announces Universal Sports Accelerator

Alviso , CA - TiVo announced a the Universal Sports Accelerator which allows busy sports fans to view games in minutes instead of hours without a loss in enjoyment.

TiVo CEO Michael Ramsay said, "The product will work with any sport and has a useful effect for all of them." First he showed a game of NFL football that had a broadcast time of three-and-a-half hours. The Tivo USA was able to reduce the time needed to fifteen minutes. This was the time the ball was in motion during the game. In a second demonstration a 1-0 soccer match was trimmed from two hours to thirty seconds.

Basketball games simply show the last two minutes of the game in its entirety. Track and field events are improved with 100-meter sprints taking 9 seconds as do all running events right through to the marathon. Ice hockey is reduced to sections of the broadcast showing where fights have broken out; goals can also optionally be shown.

"The TiVo can be optimized for individuals depending on what they find interesting in the sport. In women's tennis, where the device normally just skips the show, the TiVo USA can be programmed to include the times where the camera is looking up Maria Sharapova's skirt, er, for example," said Ramsay.

The device will be released in time for next baseball season, which will be able to be viewed in its entirety in a little over ninety seconds, according to Ramsay. Also, under development for next year is the "Universal Reality-TV Accelerator" where the device will show the commercials and skip the show.