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Interview with TiVo CEO Tom Rogers

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the advertising-in-the-drivers-seat dept.

Thomas Hawk writes "Bloomberg did an exclusive interview with TiVo's Tom Rogers this week where among other things he discussed the possibility of TiVo offering a subscription only pricing model (i.e. no upfront cost to buy a TiVo box), the increasingly important role that advertising, ironically, is playing in their current business model, and details on the upcoming Series 3 standalone HDTV unit due out later this year."

3 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Only a matter of time... by jmcmunn · · Score: 4, Insightful


    It's only a matter of time now until Tivo will go away. I don't think they will be able to compete once the cable companies have good PVR's. (and I mean good ones, not the crappy Comcast ones)

    Look at the current state of things...you have Tivo struggling to get their HDTV version to market and Comcast has one already in use in households around the country. The Comcast box is fine, it's the software interface that currently sucks. Once they get that nailed (and I believe they will) they are going to be the powerhouse in PVR's. Them and every other cable company out there. Drives are getting cheap, and as Comcast gets more units out there, they will improve their interface. And you have ReplayTV (who in my opinion has a superior product to Tivo). They just dropped out of the hardware business (like Tivo innevitably will) to go into software only. Their software equals Tivo's, and now we will have that available on the PC (or perhaps sold to Comcast for a new interface?)

    Tivo is fine and dandy...they road ReplayTV's coat tails in the beginning and then took the forefront, and eventually became "the PVR" that everyone knows. But honestly, their business model is going to have to change very significantly soon...there's no reason at all to buy a Tivo anymore when I can get a free box from Comcast (which is why they are going to go to the service only option) and once Comcast has a decent software interface, that's just one less box I need in my entertainment center if I have one built into my cable box!

    1. Re:Only a matter of time... by diamondsw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is such an OSS view of things:

      The Comcast box is fine, it's the software interface that currently sucks. Once they get that nailed (and I believe they will) they are going to be the powerhouse in PVR's.

      The interface is the hard part, not the hardware. Any schmoe can slap together the hardware; it's making it work and work well that is the lion's share of the effort.

      --
      I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
  2. Re:Why I am Red Hot Mad at DirecTV by mustafap · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >In my opinion their parent company Murdoch's News Corp. is a bunch rich bastards who couldn't care less about their customers.

    This comes up time & time again. You have to remember, you are *not* the customer. You are the product. The customer is the companies buying advertising space.

    I hate it, but it's true.

    --
    Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com