TiVo’s Case For KidZone

TiVo officially takes the wraps off KidZone today, though if you’ve been paying attention you certainly know of it and may already have it. What you may not know is that TiVo does indeed conduct market research. To support the KZ roll-out, they’ve publicly released selected results of a recent telephone survey. Not surprisingly, the majority (62%) of 1,000 participants are concerned with what children watch on television. Additionally, TiVo builds the case for KidZone with the discovery that 81% of households do not use any form of parental controls and 55% receive no content guidance. The questions that weren’t asked in this survey (surely, they were asked during development) which interest me are what percent of concerned parents would use a service like KidZone and how much would they be willing to pay?

TiVo-Ipsos Research Survey Reveals Huge Concerns About What Kids Watch on TV Over the Summer

ALVISO, CA – June 15, 2006 – TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and the leader in television services for digital video recorders, announced today the availability of TiVo KidZone, a revolutionary new service enhancement that for the first time assures parents that quality children’s programming is always on when their children turn on their television sets.

The launch of TiVo KidZone comes at a time when there is a remarkable surge in children’s daytime television viewing over the summer, which is also a time when TV viewing is even more unsupervised by parents and is a source of their growing concern. This fact is highlighted in the release today of a new survey of 1,000 Americans, sponsored by TiVo and conducted with leading international research firm, Ipsos Research, showing that 64 percent of parents of children under age 18 are concerned that their children will see television programming that does not reflect their family’s values, especially as many of the country’s children are beginning their summer vacation from school.

“TiVo KidZone answers the many concerns of parents revealed in this survey, by empowering them with a breakthrough new service and by, also giving children a continuous array of engaging, high-quality programming to choose from whenever they turn on their television sets,” said Tom Rogers , President and CEO of TiVo. “TiVo KidZone is offering families a personalized TV area where parents’ own judgments and the recommendations of widely respected national family media review organizations such as Common Sense Media are easily and safely applied to deliver the best children’s television programming.”

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Deal Of The Day: $30 Gyration RF Mouse & Keyboard

Kevin spotted a nice deal over on Woot for a $30 refurb Gyration keyboard and mouse. Back in my HTPC days I used this (or a similar model) to control a projector-attached computer. The remote and keyboard use RF, so you have increased range without line-of-sight issues. And being so compact, these are pretty unobtrusive … Read more

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… TiVo to expand service beyond Taiwan into mainland China. (LA Times) Smut giants show Hollywood how to fight back. (Business Week) Blockbuster says Netflix patents not enforceable. (Reuters) MovieBeam gets a boost from Magnolia Pictures. (HD Beat) Win a trip to Hawaii and/or a DT TiVo. (TiVo)

Slingplayer 1.2 Beta Released

If you’ve been reluctant to download the UK version of the Slingplayer, you’ll be happy to hear Slingplayer 1.2 Beta has been released for the US… and packing many of the same features (no, you won’t get DVB-T support or auto 16×9 detection). I had a brief chat with Sling VP Jeremy Toeman, and other … Read more

The Case Of The Netflix Banner Ad

In case you haven’t heard, Netflix is proudly trumpeting the arrival of banner ads. While this might please stock holders, I’m not sure how much value advertising clutter affords the typical customer. In fact, on my 1024×768 laptop the new banner ad for Sony’s Monster House combined with the Netflix Father’s Day promotion fills nearly … Read more

Deal O’ The Day: $149 Slingbox

Been thinking about getting a Slingbox? Is $100 off retail enough to force your hand? If you’re game, add the $199 Slingbox to your cart and then use code DISH2006 for another $50 off. (via Gizmodo)

Interesting News Dave Hasn’t Covered

Never enough time… Netflix talks small film distribution and movie downloads. (Business Week) Echostar, DirecTV, and WildBlue team for satellite broadband service. (CNET) Connecticut gives IPTV thumbs up. (GigaOM) What Netflix could teach Hollywood. (NY Times) Kenya and Uganda get PVR in time for World Cup. (All Africa)

TiVo Orders SmugMug To Cease & Desist?

Valleywag reports photo-sharing site SmugMug has received a cease and desist letter from TiVo in regards to their usage of thumbs up/down functionality and/or graphics. CEO Don MacAskill claims SmugMug is not in violation of TiVo’s trademarks as they aren’t using the symbols in an interactive television application. MacAskill suggests TiVo’s legal department will be … Read more