It’s good to see that Arris, a cable and broadband company, hasn’t given up on their (dirt cheap) Moxi acquisition. Thanks to Shaw Cable, our Canadian neighbors to the north can pick up the next generation Moxi HD DVR and Moxi Mate as the Shaw Gateway and Portal. Featuring a very healthy, and perhaps industry leading, HD 6 tuners! (Making its 500GB hard drive seem somewhat undersized.)
Marcus turned us on to the news and wonders:
So I called Moxi and spoke with a nice dude named David and got the same response when I speak with Tivo about upcoming products, “I dunno”. And why Canada? And do you think this will ever hit retail in the states?
Despite Moxi’s Emmy Award winning interface and functionality that was, at one point, ahead of its time, the various champions/owners never managed to get traction here in the US as a set-top provider for the likes of Charter or in retail. In fact, under Arris, the Moxi branding appears to have been abandoned. At least in terms of Shaw’s whole-home PVR solution. But, given that the new Gateway product has been engineered with support for CableCARD technology, I’d say the intention is… or was… to market this product here in the US.
Would Arris give retail another shot? Hard to say. Launching a retail product is an expensive proposition and while Arris provides a gateway the cable and satellite companies are largely the gatekeepers. If a well-known brand like TiVo can’t acquire or retain retail customers, an outlier like Moxi/Arris would have an even harder time. As they proved their last time around the block. Having said that, I hope they bring it on.
As far as the cable providers themselves, few if any would take a flier on the new product. Especially given their earlier challenges delivering refreshed product to Charter. For those currently running Arris backend gear, I could image some who might give it a shot. But it’s an uphill battle. For example, for two years, EchoStar’s been pitching a SlingLoaded CableCARD DVR… that’s yet to see the light of day. The MSOs are a tough nut to crack. Making TiVo’s recent partnerships all the more noteworthy.