DirecTV and TiVo extend support pact.

TiVo Inc. and satellite television provider DirecTV Group Inc. have extended their existing service and support contract for three years.

The agreement does away with the looming threat that TiVo could lose nearly 3 million customers when its contract with El Segundo-based DirecTV expires next February. TiVo stock jumped 8 percent on news of the deal Wednesday, while DirecTV's shares remained virtually unchanged.

DirecTV will not market TiVo's DVRs, which allow viewers to record TV shows and skip commercials, but customers will continue to receive support services for their TiVos.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but recurring monthly charges "are similar to the economics for DirecTV receivers with TiVo service activated since 2003," according to TiVO.

In August, DirecTV, the No. 1 U.S. satellite TV broadcaster, announced it would no longer market TiVo's DVR boxes and would use a system of its own, made by NDS Group, a corporate sibling under parent New Corp. Inc. As of January, nearly two-thirds of TiVo's subscribers were also DirecTV subscribers, and the announcement sent TiVo stock tumbling amid fears customers would more to the NDS system.