Spotify Hits Virgin Media TiVo, Phones And Broadband In New Deal

Streaming music service Spotify and UK ISP/TV provider Virgin Media have announced a deal to include cut-price premium membership to joint subscribers. Set to launch "in the coming months" the deal will see Virgin Media TV, internet and cellphone users offered discounts and bundles on Spotify's Premium and Unlimited tariffs, including a specially-created Spotify app for TiVo.

Discount pricing for the two packages is yet to be confirmed. Currently, Spotify charges £4.99 ($8) per month for Unlimited membership, which allows for ad-free, unlimited playback from the entire catalog of 13m+ tracks, or £9.99 ($16) for Premium membership, which throws in mobile playback on smartphones as well.

While Virgin internet customers could obviously make do with Unlimited membership, playing music on their computers, and Virgin cellphone customers would need Premium for mobile use, it's unclear at this stage which package will be required for TV use. However, based on Spotify's partnership with Onkyo to put the streaming media service on A/V receivers, we're guessing TiVo users will need Premium membership.

Existing Spotify users either switching to or currently with Virgin Media broadband will be able to keep their existing accounts and usernames, but still get access to the discounted pricing. Recent rumors suggested Spotify's US launch could be imminent, with talk of integration into a Facebook Music service.