Tivo may have been given a second chance at life…
hot off the ./ presses….
“TiVo has inked a long-term deal with Comcast, America’s largest cable television operator, to develop a version of the TiVo service that will be offered to Comcast’s DVR subscribers. The deal calls for TiVo to adapt its software to work on Comcast’s existing DVR platform, and it allows TiVo to extend to Comcast subscribers the advertising it sells in the form of interactive video clips that automatically appear in the TiVo menu.” From the article: “The move will increase TiVo’s presence in American homes as it faces competition from generic DVRs offered directly by leading cable companies. Comcast Corp. expects to begin marketing the new DVRs, which will carry the TiVo brand, by mid- to late 2006.” News also available from MSNBC and the Official Tivo Site.
Stories here:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/15/1748234&tid=129&tid=126
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/03/15/ap1884834.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7188940/
http://www.tivo.com/5.3.1.1.asp?article=246
6 Comments:
yes, but do I want to add another $20 to my $80 a month cable bill?
probably. DVR just kicks ass. especially since I totally flaked on Carnivale on Sunday 🙁 I remembered at 10:45!!! fucking sucks.
surface10shun
1:36 pm
Lord knows Comcast will hike the prices, so honestly I rather keep my Tivo and my Cable Box seperate. I am sure they will raise the price like 20 bux, so paying 12 for the Tivo is much better. I hate Comcast they are a monopoly and charge wayyyyy to mush for cable. Cable is a 30 yr old technology, why isnt the price cheaper?
lauren3113
1:40 pm
I know Timewarner charges $5 a month more for the DVR version of the boxes. It will probably be the same for Comcast. This deal means that the crappy software on the Comcast DVR cable boxes will be replaced with the TIVO software, so you may not even have to pay for it, or if you do, you’d be paying just the addition fee comcast charges for DVR, not a full blown TIVo subscription, but I guess we’ll see once they start offering the boxes. 🙂
kevinblanchard
1:44 pm
How is this a second chance? Tivo is doing just fine as far as I can tell. Constantly adding new features and in no sort of financial woes…
chillywill8e
3:39 pm
The market for DVRs is very small. And a lot of business analysts say as soon as all the cable/satellite companies put those features in their box – byebye TiVo. So if TiVo can become the business partner for providing that software then they stand a chance of sticking around for a while. (I’ve been following TiVo for a while – heck, I have hacked a Series 1, and I can’t say that I disagree with that opinion.)
line21
4:12 pm
TIVO has been suffering financially for quite a while. Originally TIVO turned down the deal to work with any cable company, which many believed was the beginning of the end for TIVO. They seem to be making a come back but have been losing money from the get go.
From http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/8107827.htm
“For its fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, the Sunnyvale-based company reported a loss of $12.4 million, or 18 cents a share, on revenue of $42.6 million. It lost $32.5 million, or 56 cents a share, on revenue of $23 million in the same period a year earlier.”
“For the fiscal year, TiVo lost of $32 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with the previous year’s loss of $82.3 million”
Also from http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000683027751/ about the original rejection from TIVO for the original deal
“We won’t second guess his decision, since we don’t know the exact terms of the deal (though apparently they were pretty bad), but you know what, TiVo is sort of in a life-or-death situation right now and might have to take what it can get if it wants to stick around. The company is still not turning a profit, they’re facing increased competition from all sides”
kevinblanchard
4:24 pm