TiVoOpsMgr -> TiVoStephen

[TiVoStephen]

Hi folks,

After seven-and-a-half years in my role of Service Operations at TiVo (first manager, and later director), I have changed roles this week. I am still in Operations, and I still report to the VP of Operations, but my focus is now on expanding our TiVoCast operations.

TiVoCast (also known as CDS, or Content Download Service), as many of you may know, is our ability to let you download content directly to your TiVo DVR. Today you may be familiar with our Rocketboom and CNet offerings. In the past we've offered feature length movies (such as Red Trousers), and several sports events.

TiVo Inc. has big plans for the future of TiVoCast, and I'm proud and happy to be part of those plans.

I'm sad to give up my staff of hard-working program coordinators, program managers and data analysts who work on such operational areas as software releases, service availability, internal apps (including our financial systems and service monitoring systems), and external tools (such as TiVo Central Online, Manage My Account, and Rewards). But I'm very excited to work on this innovative service area that helps differentiate the TiVo service and will (I'm very sure) prove to be an extremely popular TiVo feature.

Because of my change of focus, I will unfortunately not have as much time to help out folks on the forums here. I've requested a user name change (thanks David) to help in that transition. After six years of being registered as TiVoOpsMgr, you now see me as TiVoStephen.

But don't worry, I love the forum and all you guys too much to disappear completely, so I'll still be around. If there are operational issues, I'll bring them to the attention of the new director of operations or other relevant folks. I'll still chime in where I can. But I have less time available to personally intervene on individual cases. (TiVoJerry is of course still available. :) )

Thanks for your attention, and I look forward to six more years on the forums with you guys.

Best regards,

Stephen

[ZeoTiVo]

I think many here would agree that you focus all your time on the TiVoCast :)

Wishing you the best in your new role and looking forward to the results :up:

[rhuntington3]

Congratulations, Stephen! Best of luck with the new position! :up:

[windracer]

Congrats on the promotion!

... and why just six more years? ;)

[TiVoStephen]

I figure six more years before I post again like this. :) At that time, I expect to post here saying that it's been 12 good years so far and I look forward to 12 more.

[alansplace]

After six years of being registered as TiVoOpsMgr, you now see me as TiVoStephen.here's a new avatar for you:

http://files.tagworld.com/52d6a6fe5eae0aab479a9ca2fd17eb55abef.gif

congratulations!
--
Alan :D

[lordrichter]

Congratulations!

I'm glad they picked such a capable person to head up this stuff!

[Maui]

Congrats Stephen!!

Go to Vegas and ride the Bigshot in celebration!

[cwoody222]

Congrats!


So... you're the one to complain to about the "Heavy" downloads being about a month behind in any sort of relevance? The jokes would be funny... about a month ago. I've never visited their website but it's pretty clear the TiVo content is 'stale'.

Get to work! ;)

[davezatz]

Congrats on the new gig.

But I've got to tell you Stephen, I have really high expectations for you in your new role. Heavy and Navy football haven't done it for me. Get us some Hollywood level VOD/PPV please and soon. :)

Thanks for all you've done on my behalf in your prior role -- it's been appreciated.

[bkdtv]

I'm looking forward to new HDTV content -- delivered via the Internet--- on TivoCast for the Series3.

I almost never bother with the existing content because it looks so bad on my large screen.

[Gregor]

Congratulations, Stephen!

I'm sure you will excel at your new gig!

[TiVoStephen]

Thanks for the kind words.

Please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

[ZeoTiVo]

Please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

well then I have always pictured the possible TiVo download content in a web page or HME app queue and I can order then around as needed and then there is some download mechanism like a season pass - the old keep until I delete or Keep until space needed and keep at most 5 etc..

that would add even to the limited content of rocketBoom and so forth in that I would see what was suppossed to download and have some control over it.


Then of course if we had a premium subscription to a load of movie content that used that queue would just be heaven

[mdscott]

Stephen - thank you for all the support in the past and for many many times "walking the extra mile" for users !!

TiVo has made a very good decision!!

Michael

[miller890]

Best of luck Stephen! Thank you for your support in the past - I was very impressed.

[Turtleboy]

Congrats Stephen.

[Arcady]

Why don't they hire someone to be in charge of the S3 release? Slap a couple HD tuners in a box and ship the damn thing.

[ZeoTiVo]

Why don't they hire someone to be in charge of the S3 release? Slap a couple HD tuners in a box and ship the damn thing.
ignore list activated

[JacksTiVo]

Best wishes Stephen. TiVo is the only product I own in which I can identify the people who have made it. The next year should be very exciting with new services, cable companies licensing TiVo software and the S3.

[JAB]

Congratulations, Stephen! :)

/jab

[pianoman]

Why don't they hire someone to be in charge of the S3 release? Slap a couple HD tuners in a box and ship the damn thing.How old are you?

[Toeside]

Congratulations, Stephen.

[megazone]

Congratulations Stephen!

You need to indocrinate your replacement to jump in here. :-)

[jfh3]

Congrats Stephen ... your participation here has been greatly appreciated. I hope you'll continue to participate here and keep us up to date on TivoCast, which I hope will be the next big thing for Tivo.

[Arcady]

How old are you?

Old enough to reply to this:

Please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

Seriously, who cares about downloaded videos in SD? What is so hard about releasing an HD TiVo? Is anyone in charge of that project? It took 5 years to make an SD box with two tuners. At this rate, the Series 3 will come out just in time for HDTV phase-out.

[megazone]

Seriously, who cares about downloaded videos in SD? What is so hard about releasing an HD TiVo? Is anyone in charge of that project? It took 5 years to make an SD box with two tuners. At this rate, the Series 3 will come out just in time for HDTV phase-out.Septembet 17th, going by other threads. ;-)

[Bierboy]

Way to go, dude. Don't be a stranger ;)

[Stu_Bee]

Will the TivoCast be primarily aimed at the Series 3 units, with their mpeg4 capability?

The few attempts at longer content shows that Tivo did make for the Series 2's, seemed to result in not much activity there after. Not sure if that was because content partnerships fell through or the determination that mpeg2 is just to large to fit down those darn tubes.

[megazone]

The few attempts at longer content shows that Tivo did make for the Series 2's, seemed to result in not much activity there after. Not sure if that was because content partnerships fell through or the determination that mpeg2 is just to large to fit down those darn tubes.Well, the good news is that the 'tubes' keep getting fatter with cable modem speeds getting bumps, FIOS, faster DSL, and fixed wireless in some areas - with WiMax on the horizon. And downloadable MPEG-2 files can have higher compression for a given quality because they can use multi-pass, professional encoders.

[Dajad]

Hoo-rah!!!

Congrats on the move and congrats on TiVo for starting a new TiVoCast service. I'm REALLY looking forward to any details on this when you are allowed to tell us Steven!!

With everyone and their brother in negotiations with Hollywood movie/TV studios for TV/movie downloads these days, I'll love to see TiVo get right in there. I'd much rather download, pay for and watch movies and tv shows on my TiVo than I would on an iPod or comptuer ANY DAY!!!!!!

Bring it on!

All the best with the new endeavor!

:) ...Dale

P.S. When you negotiate those TiVo movie/TV show download rights, please don't forget to get the rights for your growing set of Canadian customers as well!!! I'll be the first in line to use the new service!

[Arcady]

I'd much rather download, pay for and watch movies and tv shows on my TiVo than I would on an iPod or comptuer ANY DAY!!!!!!

I'd rather record shows off TV and watch them for free (as I have been doing for 25 years) than pay for anything, including downloads to computers, iPods or TiVos.

I'd just like to do it in HD, please.

[Stu_Bee]

I'd rather record shows off TV and watch them for free (as I have been doing for 25 years) than pay for anything, including downloads to computers, iPods or TiVos.

Well..it doesn't sound like you are their target audience for this feature then. No biggie.
Some people would pay for a home delivery mechanism for movies, as the popularity of netflix attests.

[DCIFRTHS]

Enjoy your new role in the company, and congratulations!

[bkdtv]

Well, the good news is that the 'tubes' keep getting fatter with cable modem speeds getting bumps, FIOS, faster DSL, and fixed wireless in some areas - with WiMax on the horizon. And downloadable MPEG-2 files can have higher compression for a given quality because they can use multi-pass, professional encoders.FiOS is already at 15Mbps downstream for $45/mo. In NY and PA, FiOS just upgraded everyone to 10Mbps for $35/mo and 20Mbps for $45/mo. In many FiOS markets, 30Mbps (with 5Mbps upstream) service is available for another $10/mo. Subtract $5/mo off that if you subscribe to $39/mo FiOS TV service -- which the Series3 fully supports with CableCard.

Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, and other competitors in FiOS markets are working hard to increase their bandwidth to compete. As FiOS expands to more and more markets in 2006, 2007, and 2008, you can expect the competiton to offer 15-20Mbps service for the same price they charge now for 5-7Mbps. Comcast is upgrading its networks to DOSCIS 2.0 and just launched 16Mbps service (with 1Mbps upstream) for $52.95/mo in markets where it competes with FiOS.

Bandwidth on FiOS is essentially dedicated so your connection doesn't slow when your neighbors are downloading porn. The FiOS system is based on BPON, which dedicates 622Mbps to every 32 customers, and they are upgrading their system to GPON, which divides 2.4Gbps between 32-64 customers. Meanwhile, other cable companies are also upgrading their infrastructure and are making plans to deploy higher speeds this year and next.

The stage is set for TivoCast HD -- let's see it!

[Arcady]

Well..it doesn't sound like you are their target audience for this feature then. No biggie.
Some people would pay for a home delivery mechanism for movies, as the popularity of netflix attests.

I pay for NetFlix, because I want movies that are not over-compressed or (worse) panned and scanned. However, I don't only watch the DVD's they send on a TV set, so the TiVo version would not work for me.

DRM is killing the industry.

[MickeS]

Congratulations! But shouldn't your new nick be TiVoCastOpsMgr? :)

[Frankenstien]

Congratulations and thanks for all the help you've given on the forum.

[Stormspace]

Thanks for the kind words.

Please keep the comments and suggestions coming!

Congrats!

Keep in mind we want to be able to move content around like we do now. So downloads should support MRV and TiVo2Go.

[mattman]

Congratulations Stephen!

You've been a great help to me, and to other forum members in the past.

As the new Manager of TiVoCast, I have only one suggestion. Help folks who can't get the downloadable content. For me, and at least some others, they always show up as "unavailable" or "can't find the content".

Thanks and good luck!

Matt

[ashu]

Congratulations! And good luck with the new position!

And yeah, bring us some nice HD-quality S3-suitable downloadable content/subscriptions. Movies even. You don't need Netflix! Heck, I'd cancel my NF subscription without a second thought if this came to pass!

[Dennis Wilkinson]

Congrats, Stephen (and thanks for all the stuff you've done in the 'OpsMgr' role over the years, too!)

I'm looking forward to a broader range of content -- hope this is a catalyst!

[ZeoTiVo]

Congratulations! And good luck with the new position!

And yeah, bring us some nice HD-quality S3-suitable downloadable content/subscriptions. Movies even. You don't need Netflix! Heck, I'd cancel my NF subscription without a second thought if this came to pass!


Ditto for me. If I could get the same movies downloaded to my TiVo which can broadcast through the house on AVcast then Netflix does not have the value to me.

[smak]

Congrats man, i fully expect that 6 years from now you will come here with your new community name, TivoCEO!

Good luck buddy.

-smak-

[HDTiVo]

TiVoCast is an important future line of business for TiVo and I am pleased to see one of TiVo's better long time employees moved into the area.

What will your title be and what more specific parts of TiVoCast will you be working on?

[gonzotek]

What will your title be and what more specific parts of TiVoCast will you be working on?His sig now reads "E. Stephen Mack, Director of TiVoCast Operations at TiVo". From the sound of that, I think he'll be pretty intensively involved in the whole of the project.

[ChuckyBox]

You pups need to sharpen your official-TiVo-statement exegesis skills. Stephen is an operations guy -- not a development guy, an operations guy. Why would TiVo pull a guy with his experience from the incredibly demanding and important job of service operations and put him on a project that so far has delivered just a few curiosities -- unless something was up? Clearly someone has found him some content to deliver, and they need someone to build the infrastructure to deliver it to TiVo's subscribers. Tom Rogers specifically mentioned TiVoCast a couple of times in today's investor call as an important product differentiator.

...but my focus is now on expanding our TiVoCast operations.

...

TiVo Inc. has big plans for the future of TiVoCast, and I'm proud and happy to be part of those plans.



"Big plans."

Another possibility is, of course, that because Stephen has a new baby he asked for a less mission-critical job so he could be at home more. I've heard that to certain "enlightened" fathers this kind of thing can be more important than crushing your enemies. Don't ask me to explain it, it is just something I have heard. I thought children were supposed to be raised by women until they were old enough to hold a sword in battle.

Anyway, congrats, I guess, to Stephen. Sorry you won't be joining the fat cats on their little jaunts just yet, but somebody has to do the work.

[HDTiVo]

You pups need to sharpen your official-TiVo-statement exegesis skills. Stephen is an operations guy -- not a development guy, an operations guy. Why would TiVo pull a guy with his experience from the incredibly demanding and important job of service operations and put him on a project that so far has delivered just a few curiosities -- unless something was up? Clearly someone has found him some content to deliver, and they need someone to build the infrastructure to deliver it to TiVo's subscribers. Tom Rogers specifically mentioned TiVoCast a couple of times in today's investor call as an important product differentiator.


;)

[dkroboth]

Stephen,

Congrats on the promotion. As today is the quarterly TiVo Conference Call, I think it would be great if TiVo could "TiVoCast" the conference call.

[DCIFRTHS]

... Another possibility is, of course, that because Stephen has a new baby he asked for a less mission-critical job so he could be at home more. I've heard that to certain "enlightened" fathers this kind of thing can be more important than crushing your enemies. Don't ask me to explain it, it is just something I have heard. I thought children were supposed to be raised by women until they were old enough to hold a sword in battle.

Anyway, congrats, I guess, to Stephen. Sorry you won't be joining the fat cats on their little jaunts just yet, but somebody has to do the work.


Dude, your posts are very entertaining. Keep 'em coming.

[HDTiVo]

Thanks for the kind words.

Please keep the comments and suggestions coming!
Could you walk down the hall and talk to "them" about integrating TiVoCast into the DVR properly?

"Download" ought to appear to be another channel, with WishLists, Season Passes, Keep at Most, Keep Until, etc. Record by Time/Channel should include the Download channel. I won't go into painful detail.

And please, tell 'em not to put the iTunes Movie/TV Downloads into a darn HME App; save that for the iTunes Music downloads. ;)

And if long term plans don't lend themselves to this, at least duplicate the DVR interface where appropriate for the TiVoCast.

[ashu]

Umm, I absotively insist ... no iApple Music or Video please ... roll your own, or don't bother with trying to SELL songs. Subscriptions for (video only) TV shows and movies from TiVo, I'll be happy with ... stuff that requires Apple software and devices on the PC side (for fair use/re-use) ... no thanks :)

[peteypete]

Excellent and Good job Stephen. We'll miss you here. And please throw us some nuggets on TivoCast. ....

and get us some damn good content.

Long live Tivo!

[raianoat]

Good luck with your new role! I look forward to seeing what you can help produce.

[scottjf8]

GL Stephen in the new role...

How's that little kid of yours doing these days? Playing poker yet? :)