PVR Wire

1. Isn't this old news? This story was all over the place last year... or maybe earlier this year. TiVo is now going to rely on their relationship with Comcast to bring in new subscribers. Aren't they?

Posted at 9:24PM on Jul 24th 2005 by Mark

2. Mark, the safest answer is Yes and No. Yes, this is somewhat old news as we knew that DirecTV was dropping TiVo. The timing of the drop wasn't well known. Also, the last news we've seen on the Comcast and TiVo partnership indicates no TiVo products for Comcast until mid-2006 at the earliest; a good year from now that TiVo may have to go it alone.

Posted at 9:52AM on Jul 25th 2005 by Kevin C. Tofel

3. A few things to keep in mind and a related link:

http://www.pacemicro.com/corporate/content.asp?id=10320&template=0

Pace Micro, a Digital STB manufacturer just inked a deal with DirecTV to provide satellite STB's and I *assume* includes some sort of DVR to replace DirecTivo.

although TiVo gets a large number of it's subscriber base from DirecTivo units, it's percentage of cashflow per subscriber is much less for a DirecTivo subscriber than a standalone TiVo subscriber. IIRC it's like a buck and change gross revenue per DirecTivo subscriber monthly vs $12.95 for standalone boxes (excluding lifetime folks).

It's a little confusing as to what TiVo is up to positioning wise as they seemed to focus on growing the "fatter" standalone unit part of their business but pulled a 180 with a deal that provides TiVo software/service to Comcast customers.

I have no idea where this'll all lead, but it makes for quite the geek soap opera =)

Erik

Posted at 11:33AM on Jul 25th 2005 by Erik Pettersen

4. DirecTV, ahem NewsCorp, is shooting itself in the foot. If the "TiVo" brand wasn't worth something in terms of generating subscribers, then Comcast would not have signed the agreement with TiVo years after debuting their own DVRs of dubious quality. How many more times will it take NDS missing their software deployments before NewsCorp wakes up and realizes their *investment* in said company/division was a big mistake? Hell, if DirecTV actually officially made the Home Media (formerly) Options available to their TiVo units, they'd further the distinction between their units and the ones shipped by DISH Networks. Which would be better for themselves, obviously.

Posted at 1:36PM on Jul 25th 2005 by The Jeremy

5. DirecTV really doesn't seem to understand their customers these days. When I switched to DirecTV from Comcast back in 2001, I did it for 2 reasons: HDTV content and an integrated dual tuner TiVo. Since then, they really seemed to lose their way. Their HDTV offerings are lackluster -- filled with little more than promises about what is supposedly coming. More disturbung to me is how they blew the edge they had with TiVo. They started out leading the pack with the only dual tuner option out there, but they quickly lost ground. As TiVo provided more and more features in their stand-alone boxes, DirecTV refused to offer them to their customers. Then DirecTV decides they can do a better job by making their own instead of simply releasing what TiVo has already provided them with. It really is a shame they are so misguided. I suspect that I may not be only person that is brand-loyal to TiVo, not DirecTV. With Comcast moving to TiVo-powered DVRs and DirecTV moving away from them, my choice is very simple.

Posted at 12:59PM on Jul 26th 2005 by Ken

6. Couldn't agree more wtih Ken. My loyalty is with TiVO, not DirecTV. If DTV drops all TiVO support, I'll switch to comcast before they take on the TiVO front end.

Posted at 3:07PM on Jul 26th 2005 by Dave

7. that's what i'm wondering. does this mean that directv will no longer support tivo units? i've read other articles saying directv will no longer market tivo's product. is it safe to assume that if i purchase a tivo now, that it will stop working with my directv in the near future?

Posted at 6:32PM on Aug 11th 2005 by pete