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.

The Euro Cup kicks off this weekend and Portugese police plan on being quite nice to English fans coming to cheer on their side.

More than 3,000 England fans have arrived in Portugal. Up to 30,000 are expected at the game in the 65,000-capacity Estadio da Luz on Sunday.\ England supporters who smoke cannabis in Lisbon before the match will not be arrested, Portuguese police said last night.

Seems like Thomas Boswell's latest on the NHL labour agreement is getting linked to a lot. MLS will probably benefit marginally if the NHL were to go away. The seasons don't really overlap that much except in the first and last months of the MLS season so most of the time, soccer hasn't had to compete at the gate with hockey. Where we'll probably see more gains is in media coverage of the sport, if only to pad out the sports show some. Granted, during any labor stoppage, coverage of negotiations between the NHL and its players will get a lot of play. But after that?

When I read the following paragraph, I thought that it also describes MLS fans pretty accurately:

At about the same time, washingtonpost.com, the Post's Web site, ran an online poll asking which teams would be in the Stanley Cup finals. The largest response -- 42 percent of users -- was: "Didn't realize the NHL playoffs were going on." The NHL just doesn't get it. Both the owners and players are living in a parallel universe of complete delusion. Because they love hockey, they think everybody cares about it. Because they can't imagine a world without the NHL, they don't realize the majority of sports fans care little whether the NHL even exists.

But if you think about it, MLS is built on a foundation that understands its niche appeal. It doesn't have hockeys giddy and delusional expansion to cloud its judgement. MLS is set up to keep costs, primarly player salaries, low through its single-entity system. A multi-million dollar TV deal is not likely in the near, or even long-term, future so owners are looking to build their own stadiums to keep ancillary revenues for themselves. The league is set to expand by two teams next year, definitely a positive sign.

There may not be enough room at the top for more than the 3 top sports in the States. But, the sports landscape is much more fractured and varied today. There's plenty of room sports with a niche appeal to carve themseleves a spot.