As Xperi is decoupled from its intellectual property business, to sidestep “channel conflict,” the company continues to crank away on their Roku-esque aspirations by turning the TiVo Stream platform into a television OS.
Revealed two years ago, and arriving only a year late, the company’s first partnership is poised to begin producing Vestel televisions “Powered by TiVo” in early 2023. As a gadget-loving consumer, I find the company and their approach rather uninteresting these days. But The Verge went into deeper detail for those who’d like to follow along and a recent investor webcast talks to hopes of several more TV OEMs coming online within the next year or so.
The only item here that really piques my interest is the technological approach. While the current TiVo Stream 4K dongle runs Android TV, the new television platform is described as Linux-based… like their original line of DVRs. By doing so, TiVo is no longer beholden to Google and regains control of their destiny, but they also limit the amount of apps they can integrate — without additional time and expense, by they or their partners. Then again, a large part of the pitch seems to be revenue sharing from the FAST video content deals they’ve brokered, like Pluto TV, vs fully replicating the consumer dongle experience with a nearly infinite and rich app ecosystem — the end result will vary amongst partners, most likely dictated by TV OEM relationships and region.