TiVo, Inc held their quarterly earnings call yesterday. As expected, it was mostly more of the same – revenue down with a net loss (~$15m), subscriber count down (~2.4m), but plenty of cash in the bank ($240m). However, TiVo did answer a long standing question I’ve had regarding the upcoming but delayed DirecTV TiVo. Who’s building the new box? And, as it turns out, the latest incarnation of the DirecTiVo will run on Technicolor/Thomson hardware.
Additionally, as previously disclosed, TiVo reinforced that international Virgin and ONO implementations will run on Cisco hardware. On the US MSO front, RCN is obviously deploying actual Premiere hardware but it appears TiVo hasn’t given up on a tru2way solution to offer providers. From CEO Tom Rogers:
two-way that we continue to build toward
Lastly, back to that DirecTV TiVo… While the official line is still a scheduled 2010 deployment, Rogers gave themselves some wiggle room should it slip into 2011:
As to the DIRECTV box that we are developing, it’s something that we hope to be able to push out late this year.
Interesting, I had given up on this actually happening long ago.
Dave, have you heard whether the new DirecTivo will utilize the MoCA-based multi-room technology that DirecTV has put in their own DVRs?
This is interesting. For a few years now I’ve been putting my DirecTV account to “sleep” every 6 months waiting for better service and the newer DirecTV TiVo HD box that’s been “just around the corner” for years it seems. When they finally do release this new box, I’ll have to give it some serious consideration. It’s got to be better than my current TiVo HD DVR w/Verizon FiOS.
On an interestingly related note, when I called DirecTV the last time to put my account to sleep (last month), he asked me why I was keeping my account dormant. I told him that I was waiting for them to come up with a new HD TiVo box, since I liked TiVo so much and that I wanted an HD DVR box all in one. He told me that since I had been such a long time customer (I signed up back when the SAT-60 came out!), I was entitled to a free HD receiver “upgrade” including a new HD dish. I asked him if that meant I would get the rumored new DirecTV TiVo HD receiver, and he told me yes, and they are suppose to be rolling off the production line in December of this year.
Tom, Haven’t heard anything specific, although TiVo has alluded to an upcoming streaming solution.
John, production date versus deployment date could be quite different as we saw with the Premiere. My hardware has a 12/09 manufacture date but they obviously didn’t choose to make it available until spring.
—-
Even though TiVo’s revenue and customer base continues to shrink, I think they’ve positioned themselves very well. As service providers look to fend off defections, possibly related to the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Google TV, etc, licensing the TiVo experience could give them a solid countermeasure. Assuming TiVo can execute in a timely fashion and iterate quicker. If not, there’s always more patent litigation. I just hope TiVo doesn’t choose to give up on the retail market.
@John watch out, Directv phone reps are often reported as saying what you want to hear. Sometimes their facts are valid, but often times they’re wrong.
I really do like Directv’s current system of home media serving, multi-room viewing, MoCA, DVRs, etc. But here in Philadelphia I can’t get my local sports RSN via satellite, which is an issue for me.
I too have been suspending my Directv service, especially during baseball season.
FYI I noticed a post over on satelliteguys and wanted to clarify… The image was an existing Virgin box with a TiVo remote pasted on top of it (reused from earlier coverage). So consider it purely an artist rendering and not a representation of the new DirecTV TiVo. I’ve updated the post title and swapped the graphic for clarity. Sorry for the confusion.
I would order this the day it is available. No question. Give me Tivo and HD, and the deal is set and done.
Give it the ability to stream videos from a computer network, and it’s all good…
Thanks Dave for the update. I will let the troops know. :)
Still working on Tru2Way huh? Good thing there’s nothing else they could be spending their time on. You know, like speeding up the HD Premiere interface so it isn’t a joke?? Glad they’re allocating their resources correctly…
I would pick them up as well. Streaming to other TVs and computers would be nice in my home, but not outside. What I really want is the ability to transfer the video to my laptop, or iPod, even better maybe some of the the Android tablets coming out (like Archos). I travel on airplanes twice a week and in and out of airports. The “watch anywhere” they always tout is a patently false with streaming. Hotel broadband connections are not up to handling those speeds which makes it useless as well.
I pay for the subscription to see the shows and the subscription for the DVR and I should be able to watch it anywhere. Tivo will let you transfer to a portable device and unless DirecTV makes that available, they will still not have my business.
So that would be two years late?
I’ve pretty nearly had my fill of Tivo. Deadlines mean nothing to this company.
Any one hear any news on the TIVO for direct TV. Still using our old TIVO, which is no longer able to play in HD and needs to be reset every other day . . . ugggg.
My wife needs her TIVO, so she says.