TECHNOLOGY : TiVo Announces Deal With Sony to Make Its Recorders : Electronics: The firm will sell the corporate giant a minority stake and expand its service that allows viewers to create a lineup of their favorite shows.

TiVo Inc. said Wednesday that Sony Corp. will make recorders for the upstart company’s service that lets users view their choice of television shows at any time by recording programming on a TV set-top box.

Sony, the world’s second-largest consumer-electronics maker, also will buy a minority stake in TiVo and gain representation on its board.

TiVo will use other Sony products to add features to its service, potentially including games, music and motion pictures.

The devices, called personal video recorders, let users create a lineup of their favorite shows that can be digitally recorded and then viewed any time. Viewers also can rewind and fast-forward through programs, skipping commercials.

“This alliance further validates TiVo’s personal television service as the next big thing in television,” said TiVo President and Chief Executive Mike Ramsay.

America Online Inc., the world’s largest Internet service, holds a minority stake in the company and plans to incorporate its technology into AOL’s planned Internet-TV service. In July, TiVo filed to raise $80 million through an initial public offering.

Other backers of Sunnyvale-based TiVo include Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft Corp.; General Electric Co.’s NBC; CBS Corp.; General Motors Corp.’s Hughes Electronics; Royal Philips Electronics; and Walt Disney Co.

TiVo already uses a device made by Royal Philips and says users of that recorder also will receive the Sony content. The Sony recorder is expected to go on sale next year.

TiVo competes with a rival product from Replay Networks Inc., which is backed by investors such as Time Warner Inc., NBC and Disney.

Sony’s American depositary receipts closed down $1.25 at $128.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.