Bottom line - Tivo needs revenue - If they don't mold their business model to be able to tweak some cash out of advertisers none of us will have a Tivo. They are still struggling to even nail down a business model that shows a profit. Personally, I view all content they throw on the machine no matter how painful because I know they know I watched it which allows them to show the advertisers - Hey, see how many people watched this other companies ad! Some of it is good - it has shown me stuff I wouldn't have gone looking for and I ended up watching regularly (Nip/Tuck). I will gladly opt-in for targeted adds (keyword searching for an ad is a cool concept too) to be able to keep my Tivo for years to come. I have used the cable providers version of Tivo and they are extremely painful to use... they just don't compare. I believe Tivo didn't make this decision lightly and will approach this with respect for their customers as they have always done in the past.
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Bottom line - Tivo needs revenue - If they don't mold their business model to be able to tweak some cash out of advertisers none of us will have a Tivo. They are still struggling to even nail down a business model that shows a profit. Personally, I view all content they throw on the machine no matter how painful because I know they know I watched it which allows them to show the advertisers - Hey, see how many people watched this other companies ad! Some of it is good - it has shown me stuff I wouldn't have gone looking for and I ended up watching regularly (Nip/Tuck). I will gladly opt-in for targeted adds (keyword searching for an ad is a cool concept too) to be able to keep my Tivo for years to come. I have used the cable providers version of Tivo and they are extremely painful to use ... they just don't compare. I believe Tivo didn't make this decision lightly and will approach this with respect for their customers as they have always done in the past.