A flurry of activity around TiVO this week: TiVO announces that their home media option will now be a standard part of the service (theirs $100 well-spent *sigh*), lower prices after rebates ($129), future TiVO boxes will let you view content from the Net, later this year you’ll be able to move content from TiVO to your PC, and news that DirectTv had sold their stake in TiVo stock.
The Motley Fool has a calm analysis of what the DirectTV sale means to Tivo. Rumors are that DirectTV might want to roll out their own DVR service instead of using TiVO’s. Let me tell you know, this is a hugely risky move for them to consider. While they probably want to capture associated revenue for themeselves, they also have to provide an equal or better DVR than Tivo. All their DVR users are accustomed to how their TiVo works, and there is no arguing that the TiVO interface is well thought out and easy to use. The way season passes work and automatically schedule the shows you want to record is also a breeze. If DirectTV can’t do as good a job at that, then they may just cause unhappy users to jump to newer TiVO’s and suffer from bad word of mouth.