TiVo, We Hardly Knew Ye
from the first-mover-disadvantage dept
Somoene over at Slate is already declaring the TiVo dead, saying it was too far ahead of the game. While those who have it can't stop talking about how wonderful it is, they're still having trouble signing up users and making a profit. The suggestion is that they have "first mover disadvantage" where the idea is cool - but too complicated for most consumers to see the benefit. So, while a similar concept may succeed in the future, TiVo may be running out of time. The article compares it to the old Commodore Amiga, which was certainly cool, but way ahead of its time. I think part of the problem with TiVo is the pricing. While they've done a good job bundling and subsidizing the hardware on the satallite versions, most people don't have satellite TV - and it's a big disconnect to convince them to switch. But, on the cable versions of TiVo, they seem to be trying to recoup their box costs and charging for the monthly service. The combined charges are way too high for mass acceptance. If the real money is in the service fees, then they should just subsidize the boxes, and try to sign up more customers for the service.
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Prices too high!
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Or, I can just fire up Morphous and watch for free ;)
(that was a joke, I haven't messed with the P2P stuff since Napster almost 2 year ago)
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Re: No Subject Given
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Tivo
It's great and I have to disagree with that assessment.. If you watch 3 or more shows in any given week, you should get this. It also allows you to tape things you normally wouldn't and actually enhances/broadens your viewing tendencies. Networks should be please, because they are getting more exposure than they normally wouldn't get without Tivo owners.
Think about this... I tape discovery's 2nd run shows from 12am-2am... Then, I watch them over the weekend or if I am bored with the 6:30pm news on a weekday. This means I get exposed to new commercials and shows I normally wouldn't tape or watch.
I heard that time warner is rolling out their own box's, but I am skeptical about this until I see the features. If they have a digital recorder that records two channels at once then I'll go for that.
Tivo is expensive, but when you get the lifetime subscription, its like you have TV Guide for life.
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Re: Tivo
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Now, more interesting, the name TiVo might not: the company has licensed the technology to DirecTV and Sony, both of whom will use it without the brand "TiVo".
Just the other day, a TiVo employee hinted in the TiVo community forum that "TiVoMan" -- their icon -- is soon to be history.
So save the eulogies for now -- the technology platform is rock solid and the device is simply awesome so TiVos partners will take the goodies and put them to good use.
One last note: TiVo and DirecTV have figured out that TiVo/DirecTV subscribers order bigger cable packages, more PPVs and churn less. As a result they LOWERED the monthly TiVo fee to $5 from $10. Finally, someone gets the supply-and-demand concept RIGHT. Whew.
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Re: No Subject Given - TIVO & DirectTV
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