Oct 07 2008
TiVo PC…a move in the right direction?
On the heels of their final win in the Echostar/TiVo lawsuit, TiVo is also percolating through the news with an upcoming new product in conjunction with Nero AG: TiVo PC.
Bringing the popular TiVo software interface and control to your desktop, it looks like you’ll need your own TV tuner card. For the full experience, you can splurge for a actual TiVo remote and IR interface for your PC. I imagine TiVo/Nero will have various packages to sell you any hardware you need.
The question is, where is this going for TiVo? I’ve been a fan of their DVR for years. I’ve also watched their highs, and lows. No doubt the EchoStar win is an important one, but their original business model was always their week point. Selling DVR equipment, while providing continual service in the form of television programming schedules that are downloaded via phone or internet.
Originally, you could purchase recurring monthly service, or for a hefty sum, pick up a lifetime subscription1. The lifetime subscription offer comes and goes, for while it’s a nice dodge to adding another monthly service fee to your home entertainment system, it doesn’t provide TiVo with much longevity.
TiVo has managed to expand in two areas. First, the aggregate viewing data of their subscriber base can be bundled up in discrete, fairly anonymous packages and sold to marketers. Any fashion they can market this, I encourage TiVo to do so…the biggest complaint the industry has always had to DVRs is watching their potential customers skip commercials. If TiVo can provide that industry with an alternative that allows the DVR market a reprieve, more power to them. As an offshoot of this, TiVo has found ways to introduce targeted advertising within their product which has, to date, not been terribly offensive. Messages off the main menu, or flashing by when I do fast forward through commercials, don’t actually interfere with my use or enjoyment of the product.
The other avenue they pursue is partnerships with other segments of the entertainment industry. Like their on-again-off-again releationship with DirecTV, or a newer partnership with ComCast. This new deal with Nero is in that vein – getting TiVo’s software and services out to a new audience. I see the merit of it, I do. TiVo provides so much more than simply DVR hardware with handy scheduling features. Updated programming data, advanced searching capabilities, and the TiVo Suggestions algorithms which (if you think about it) were cool before Pandora Radio or Apple’s iTunes Genius were cool.
All the same, these partnerships haven’t always panned out. DirecTV has proven to be a tempestuous relationship. ComCast was a partner 2 years before a product even hit the test market2. I guess my biggest question in this TiVo/Nero deal is: who is running the show? Because when TiVo relies on partners to drive a product rollout, it’s often been more trouble than it’s worth. Nero, so far as I know, has never sold hardware before…so is this TV Tuner their own? TiVo’s? A third-parties? Will it even matter?
In all, I’m optimistic. TiVo has worked hard to help establish DVR’s as legitimate in the marketplace. Perhaps they’ll contribute the same in the PC arena. Already, some companies are seeking outlets to rent or sell media in protected formats to PCs and Macs. I expect this is TiVo’s first steps in that direction. I just hope they’re on stable ground.
from: TiVo Builds a Data Mining Empire [Slashdot]
