TiVo Tries To Change The Channel
from the it's-all-about-the-licensing dept
While TiVo has done some licensing deals in the past, for the most part, they’ve relied on building their own brand. However, it seems that this strategy might not make sense any more. The various cable and satellite TV providers have realized that they should be the ones offering TiVo-like PVR functionality and are getting the technology from plenty of other sources. According to the article, the largest seller of PVRs right now isn’t TiVo, it’s EchoStar, which offers PVR functionality with its Dish Network system. So, many are now saying that TiVo needs to ramp up its licensing model (perhaps using an Intel-based “TiVo Inside” type strategy) in order to survive. The article also makes a good point at the end, saying that, unlike many internet technologies that used groundswell support to grow, TiVo has more of a problem because the TV is separate from the internet – making it less likely users will immediately go online and rave about their TiVos. Certainly there are plenty of people online who don’t ever stop talking about their TiVos, but it’s a separate experience from using the TiVo itself – unlike other “user supported” technologies like Wi-Fi and Linux where people can go online saying how they’re using the technology right now.
