US-based company, TiVo, has launched a service for transferring recorded TV programmes to the video iPod or Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) multimedia devices.

Building on the TiVoToGo solution it launched back at the beginning of the year, software has been designed that can encode standard programmes such that they can be moved to the portable devices in the necessary smaller format.

The company plans to charge between $15 and £30 for the addition to the package, but it will only be available to TiVo’s current Series2 subscribers as an extension of the current technology.

Phil Leigh, senior analyst at research firm Inside Digital Media, told the Mercury News: “From the iPod standpoint, this dramatically increases the repertoire of TV shows that will be available on the video iPod.”

However, it has also been suggested that the technology could provide competition for Apple’s iTunes service, where videos cost $1.99 each.

However, Jim Dunning, TiVo’s vice president of product marketing, said he saw it more “as two different choices”.

“The version you buy from iTunes doesn’t have any commercials,” he added.

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