PVR Wire

I had very strong suspicions that the BlueMoon video spoofing TiVo to have an Alien origin was, in fact, an intended and premeditated viral marketing attempt. It turns out that it was according to some information given over on TiVo Lovers.

The information was found on a MySpace user's site who is a fashion designer. She claims to have done the wardrobe for the viral marketing campaign for TiVo and linked to the video and the site TiVo is Aliens.

But just like the leaked promotional videos that appeared on YouTube, access to her profile has been blocked. I suspect this has been done at the request of TiVo.

Fortunately I had time to see her MySpace profile before it was hidden. I can confirm that what is said over at TiVo Lovers is true, and the BlueMoon video therefore looks like a true Viral Marketing Attempt by TiVo. Sorry to crush anyone's belief that it really was aliens that invented TiVo.

I got really excited when I heard about some new Series 3 promo videos appearing on YouTube. The videos had been reportedly intercepted from a Teleworld broadcast.

However before I even had chance to view the videos they had been pulled from YouTube. This is most likely due to a request from TiVo for copyright infringement, so obviously TiVo do not want everyone to see this promo just quite yet.

As far as I am aware the video contained some footage of the Series 3 TiVo and also some details on the lifetime offer.

Well, it looks like this offer is for real. If you have a lifetime subscription on a TiVo Series 2, you can transfer your subscription to a Series 3 box. Thanks to Dave Zatz and Shawn for posting this screenshot of the offer.

* Fine print:

• As always, "lifetime" refers to the lifetime of the product, not the buyer.
• You must purchase a Series 3 by the end of the year, and activate service by the end of January (For those who haven't been paying attention, that means this puppy should be on the market any day now!)
• Nevermind the fact that you already paid for a lifetime subscription and are now paying $199 for another one.
• We have no idea of TiVo will offer a product lifetime subscription option to new customers.

Football season starts tonight, and the countless hours spent researching football players for fantasy football teams will finally be met with some results when the Miami Dolphins take on the Super Bowl champion Pittsburg Steelers - sans Big Ben "I Don't Need No Stinckin' Helmet" Roethlisberger of course.

Since I am myself a big fan of fantasy football fan (or as my wife calls me - a grown man obsessed with a fantasy team comprised of fantasy players), a typical Sunday finds me in front of my TV with laptop, beer, and buffalo wings in hand - tracking stacks - and making shouts reminiscent of schoolgirl glee because - "Oh my God! Peyton Manning just fumbled the ball causing my opponent's fantasy team to lose 2 points when I was losing 66.9 to 68.7, which will cause me to win by .2 points! "

It's really quite sad when I sit and think about it but I digress from the original point of this post.

In a move somewhat similar to the DirecTV fantasy stats feature mentioned in this Sharewatch, and related to the CBS deal announced earlier this week, TiVo is unveling an interactive service for CBS SportLine's fantasy football participants.

This service will allow TiVo subscribers who use CBS SportsLine's fantasy football service to manage their rosters in addition to check statistics, scores, and highlights all via their TiVo remote control and Series 2 TiVo.

They will also have access to breaking news and CBS SportsLine videos which include pre-game analysis, player interviews and special fantasy football content.

Fantasy football may be one of the geekiest things ever invented, but it is a cashcow for media companies raking in 1.5 billion dollars a year by some accounts. Now's a good a time as ever for TiVo to jump on the fantasy bandwagon.

PVRblog has a copy of an ad that ran in a TV industry trade publication. There's a two-fold message from TiVo to cable companies here:

1. You should stock up on cable cards, as we're going to increase demand for them, as well as all your services by putting our new product on the market and getting everyone all excited about TV.
2. We're not supporting satellite companies, see how much we love you cable companies? (Never mind our falling out with satellite providers)

Of course, there's a subtext here as well. Along with almost everything TiVo's done in the last few years, this is also a desperate plea for clemency for having popularized the idea of skipping past commercials. TiVo's been partnering with companies to showcase programs, provide ads, and now they want cable companies to believe the new box will convince users to purchase more cable TV services. If they buy the box, that is.

Our Colleagues over at HD Beat have a really great article compiling most of the information that we know, or have guessed about the upcoming TiVo Series 3.

In a nutshell, we're talking about the first set-top PVR that can record two over-the-air or cable HDTV programs at the same time. It'll record standard definition TV as well, will likely include TiVoToGo software, multi-room viewing, and you can easily increase the storage capacity with an external hard drive.

But is it worth $800?

I had a conversation with a friend the other day. It went something like this:

Friend: Why don't they just sell it for $300? They're not going to sell any at that price.

Me: You're probably right, but they're cramming so much in there, the TV Tuners alone are probably worth a few hundred dollars, they'd lose a lot of money if they sold it for $300.

Friend: But they'd make it up in subscriber fees.

Me: Sure, in about 5 years, assuming you stick with them for five years.

Friend: But they have a better user experience than anyone else, they can't afford to lose customers by pricing the Series 3 so high.

Me: Right, but they also can't afford release their first HD TiVo box so late in the game without it being a significant step up from the competition.

Friend: But I really want one, and I can't afford to spend $800 on it!

Umm yeah, I can't argue with that one.

It looks like the rumored benchmark price of $800 for the Series 3 TiVo could very well be the actual price. As seen in the picture above from Engadget, the October issue of Popular Mechanics has stated a TiVo Series 3 price of $800.

Whether they have got inside information, or are making an educated guess which they feel confident in we cannot be sure. But it does give the feeling that a price tag of $800 for the Series 3 is what TiVo will announce any time soon.

The New York Times reports that TiVo and CBS are set to announced a partnership today to make 4 new shows available to TiVo subscribers a week or two before they're set to air on television.
The deal includes a preview episode of The Class, and creates an option for TiVo users to record the premieres of a bundle of 4 shows, The Class, Jericho, Shark, and Smith, with the single click of their remotes.

This is hardly the first time TIVo has made downloadable video available. And in recent months, television networks have been making tons of deals to showcase their new shows online, and in some cases before the fall premiere dates. This helps build buzz for the shows, and presumably lets producers charge more for advertising in their shows.

TiVo, on the other hand, has often been blamed for leading the consumer ad-skipping revolution. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers says getting his company in on the action shows that PVRs can be part of the solution, not just the problem. He says PVR technology can be used to help attract people to programming, create on-demand commercials, and make advertising more effective.

I came across a funny story the other day about TiVo PVRs being used to entice people back to church. I am not too sure that this is a true story but it's funny nonetheless.

According to the satirical website LarkNews a Church found an obvious pattern between the Cleveland Browns' football schedule and a drop in male Church Attendees. So to combat the drop in attendees the Church bought a stack of TiVo players and offered subsidized TiVo membership to any member in good standing.

Many families took up the offer and the Church offered a class on how to set your TiVo to record the football games and surprisingly the men are back in Church.

Brad already talked about this interesting video that appeared on the net from the TiVo website. It has now been YouTubed by Dave Zatz for your convienience. Watching it you will find yourself a bit confused. Is it an advert, an internal training video or something else?

A tip off to the video appeared on TiVo community from an unknown member. It seems unlikely that if this was an internal video it would have been accidentally leaked to the public.

The video is found at the web address tivo.com/bluemoon. Bluemoon is the codename for the very first TiVo and so would not be a web address that TiVo would use for internal use as it could easily be guessed.

Secondly the web page is made up as a fake FTP page containing only a link to the video. This makes me feel that it was meant to be found, but look like it should be hidden.

Already this video has got people speculating what it is for, and there is no doubt it is already having a viral marketing effect. You can see it popping up on a number of TiVo related sites already.

The video makes a mock of 1950s top secret UFO videos and tells a narrative of a TiVo box being a strange device found on a UFO crash site. The apparent "conspiracy" themed video fuels the feeling that this video contains some sort of clue for something.

Being so close to the launch of the Series 3 TiVo this could very well be a clever marketing ploy, and well, it's got me writing about it.

Hidden deep within the bowels of TiVo's web site, lies a (promotional) video so startling, it will challenge all your beliefs about the origins of digital video recording. That, or some TiVo employees had a bit too much free time on their hands.

Anyway, via Davis Freeberg's blog, we discovered this this video. It was apparently uncovered by someone from TiVo Community nosing around the TiVo website.

The code name seems to be related to TiVo's having been launched during a blue moon. The rest, I can't vouch for. I'm fairly certain the Series 3 boxes will not be able to generate either beer or cola, although if I'm wrong, that would explain the possible $800 price tag.

It's not clear if this video was ever meant to see the light of day, but it's the sort of thing that makes me wish more major media corporations had a sense of humor. Could Microsoft have been founded by tiny creatures obsessed with soft toilet paper for example? Eh, probably not.

On the other hand, with the Series 3 about to launch any day now, it wouldn't be a bad move for someone at TiVo to have leaked this for some viral marketing fun.

Back in June TiVo starting testing a new service called Guru Guide. Guru Guides is a recommendation and scheduling tool which, when you subscribe online, allows you to automatically schedule a list of recommended shows.

Guru Guide has not been that impressive since its launch but now it is looking pretty good with a new list for the fall. The list is now populated with new shows and series premiers, which are mostly from Fox.

I know what you thinking. Mostly from Fox? However Dave Zatz has checked with TiVo and TiVo confirmed to him that Guru Guides is not paid advertising.

The TiVo software that powers your PVR is a really user friendly piece of kit, but like any software it has its fair share of bugs. The bugs present in Version 7.3 were causing problems for some people and so TiVo released an updated version (7.3.1) which apparently fixed these bugs.

However it looks like we are not in the clear yet. A number of users over at TiVoCommunity have still been experiencing a number of the same bugs from previous version, and have been reporting them over the past couple of months. So it looks like not everything has been fixed and TiVo still has some work to do.

Dave Zatz has just pointed out that TiVo are now taking applications for TiVo house parties. Wondering what the hell a TiVo House Party is?

Well it's unlikely to be the sort of alcohol driven house party you might see in American Pie. The TiVo House Party will allow you to share TiVo with your friends, throw a great party in your home, and get exclusive programming and offers.

TiVo are offering two types of house parties: a TiVo Kidzone Party and a TiVo Tasting Party. Currently they are only accepting applicants for the TiVo Tasting Party allowing you to join TiVo insiders for a TiVo fueled party. You can also sign up to a mailing list to stay informed on any future TiVo Kidzone parties.