By Mimi Turner

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - TiVo has signed a deal with UK cable operator Virgin Media to launch jointly branded set-top boxes here, six years after being outgunned in the U.K. by competition from News Corporation-owned BSkyB.

The co-branded set-top boxes will deliver HD television from Virgin, as well as television-over-the-Internet services including the BBC iPlayer and itv.com, the companies said.

Virgin has around 3 million cable television viewers, and the two companies expect the boxes to go on sale here in 2010.

TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said the deal would deliver "next generation" entertainment.

TiVo launched a UK service in 2001, around the same time that Virgin's bigger rival BSkyB launched its Sky Plus service, which now has around 6.5 million active users. TiVo eventually backed out of the U.K. market in 2003.