TiVo to supply set-top boxes to Morgans hotel [Text View]

cwerdna

11-12-2008, 02:31 AM

Surprised nobody's posted this yet...

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1153754520081112?rpc=44

"TiVo (TIVO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to install its television recording devices in Morgans Hotel Group's (MHGC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) new luxury hotel in Florida, in a move that could expand TiVo's subscriber base beyond residential customers.

TiVo said that when the South Beach hotel opens in December, each of its roughly 400 rooms will have one of TiVo's HD digital video recorder (DVR) set-top boxes..."

Cool! I wish this were more widely available in hotels. Accessing my TiVo via Slingbox from a hotel room (assuming it has free Internet access) is pretty suboptimal.

EVizzle

11-12-2008, 03:59 AM

I think it will be a great way for Tivo to get people to try out their service and will lead to an increase in subscribers.

etz

11-12-2008, 07:26 AM

mr.unnatural

11-12-2008, 07:38 AM

I could easily see this as a bonus for a studio type of hotel that caters to longer term stays but it's a bit of overkill for one-nighters. As for stuff being left on the Tivo from previous guests, I'm sure Tivo could come up with an update to the software that could wipe the old recordings, possibly with a remote command from the front desk when a guest checks out.

FWIW, I spent two years travelling around the country for work and I would stay in one location anywhere from just a few days to four weeks or more. I carried a ReplayTV with me to every location and was able to set it up with the hotel's TV network with little or no problem. Sometimes they had the TVs set up to only work using their converter box on channel 2 but I was always able to get the master remote from the front desk to reprogram the TV and get it working with the Replay. I sometimes worked in the evening so having my shows recorded and waiting for me when I got back to the room was a real treat.

ZeoTiVo

11-12-2008, 08:00 AM

I could easily see this as a bonus for a studio type of hotel that caters to longer term stays but it's a bit of overkill for one-nighters. As for stuff being left on the Tivo from previous guests, I'm sure Tivo could come up with an update to the software that could wipe the old recordings, possibly with a remote command from the front desk when a guest checks out.

With some software tweaks you simply don't allow keep until I delete and then the shows from previous guests may well include what you want to see anyway. No worries about the shows being left on there since TiVo will do the job of moving old shows off to make room for new.
You could also tune suggestions to know what the top rated 10 or 20 shows are and have suggestions get them if not already set.

Wonder if they could put 5 or 10 TiVos on one account and thus enable MRV so you could look around at some other pre-recorded shows as well.

I think 6 devices on one netflix account. SO for a very modest fee per room you could also have a lot of streaming movies, also Amazon on a pay per basis that gets charged back to the room. Heck charge 2$ extra on each Amazon or 5$ for Netflix for the day and you are talking revenue streams

CuriousMark

11-12-2008, 11:52 AM

I see the sign in front of the hotel now:

Air Conditioning, Phone, HDTV and TiVo!

JacksTiVo

11-12-2008, 01:58 PM

I don't know how many times I have been in a hotel room watching TV and have absentmindedly reached for the remote to either pause or replay a show I was watching and then realized I wasn't home watching my own TiVo connected TV.

The users of this hotel will be the potential customers TiVo is looking for, high income with plenty of money for discretionary spending. This hotel will have 342 units, some sold as residences, that could see thousands of different guests stay in the hotel during the year. Based on the location most guests will stay at least a week or more, so after having a TiVo for a week, I can imagine some of them returning home and ordering one.

A smart marketing move by TiVo.

etz

11-12-2008, 02:25 PM

ZeoTiVo

11-12-2008, 02:52 PM

yea, watching TV in a hotel blows. But the only time I absent mindedly reach for the remote is when I'm trying to FF through the commercials. Unless I'm watching something that I already had the foresight to record in advance, then having a TiVo vs. a regular TV is not of a great value. Well other than quick trips to the ice machine or to the bathroom. So if the TiVo is blanked out, then I'm watching live TV pretty much like in any hotel room.

But I can see that if these are meant for extended stay hotels, then it's a great thing to have.

If I checked into a Hotel I would finally use the guide :)
cause i would setup to record all the shows I wanted for the time I was there - if it was evening I would go get dinner, do an errand or jump on my laptop for a while until I knew I had enough shows to skip commercials. traveling on my own in a Hotel is the very place I am not much into casual TV wtaching as there is not much else to do in the room.
Plus there typically are freechannels that are commercial free. I can not count the number of times i saw something on showtime or HBO at the hotel but either during the day or at 4am. No more problems with that

and no more hassles with room service coming right at the good part or trying to schedule my calls home to Wife and kids around some show i might want to watch

Adam1115

11-12-2008, 02:57 PM

While this would be way better than the usual hotel live-tv, I don't really see the point for an application like this. Having a TiVo for me is all about having a supply of MY programs ready for me at all times. If I were to check into a hotel, the TiVo would be empty or filled with someone else's junk.

I know it seems that way, but everytime I'm in a hotel for more than a couple of days it drives me crazy that I can't set a few shows I want to see.

I end up missing half of them, or tuning out because of the commercials.

It'd be nice to set up recordings for a few shows and not have to worry about it...

jlb

11-12-2008, 03:21 PM

I would use it. Let me go out and all, then come back and have what I want on there.

RonDawg

11-12-2008, 05:59 PM

I see the sign in front of the hotel now:

Air Conditioning, Phone, HDTV and TiVo!

You forgot HBO and Vibro-Massage.

nigebj

11-13-2008, 12:35 AM

A smart marketing move by TiVo.

Yep - every year when we stay in hotels for a few days my kids complain about not having TiVo. "Why can't we pause the TV?" - and "Why can't we record the new XYZ episode to watch tomorrow as we'll be out tonight".

Can't believe it's taken this long - but a great move!

Lensman

11-13-2008, 01:16 AM

I've heard that pay-per-view movies are very high profit items for hotels. I wonder if this deal includes some yet-to-be-revealed PPV or VOD functionality - either as sell-through by Amazon or some PPV vendor.

I suppose the easiest course would be to allow the hotel to markup the Amazon Video On Demand rentals and charge it on your hotel bill.

OTOH, imagine if the hotel allowed you to specify your Tivo requests or subscriptions via the internet before you checked in - and your Tivo was ready with your show prerecorded when you arrived in your room!

heySkippy

11-13-2008, 05:34 AM

My wife has been saying for years that hotels should have TiVos in room, but she want's it set up so she can schedule recordings on the device in advance of the trip so they'll be there when we are.

jlb

11-13-2008, 10:25 AM

Well, it would be really cool if TiVo incorporated a way you could push content from your own tivo to a hotel tivo, or sort of let you MRV. But that would likely never happen and opens a whole host of issues.

etz

11-13-2008, 10:42 AM

as much as I love my TiVo and can see the value of having one in my hotel room, I still can't see how this is really viable for the hotel operators. Think about all the problems people report here... I can't imagine a hotel operator trying to figure out kickstart codes, cablecard pairing, lengthy reboots, dying harddrives after a software update, and the like. Granted they will likely have a service contract that accounts for quick swap outs of flakey units, but still it's way more trouble to them than a hotel style TV/VOD system that already works. Trying to placate guests who are just trying to watch a movie can be a real drag.

dianebrat

11-13-2008, 01:41 PM

I still can't see how this is really viable for the hotel operators. Think about all the problems people report here... I can't imagine a hotel operator trying to figure out kickstart codes, cablecard pairing, lengthy reboots, dying harddrives after a software update, and the like.

etz,
While I respect your opinions, those scenarios are far from the case for the majority of Tivo owners, I'd say that most of us have never experienced any of those failings, for most of us, you plug it in, and you just go.

Diane

ZeoTiVo

11-13-2008, 04:01 PM

etz,
While I respect your opinions, those scenarios are far from the case for the majority of Tivo owners, I'd say that most of us have never experienced any of those failings, for most of us, you plug it in, and you just go.

Diane

yah- I suspect they would not be getting some Comcast subcontractor swinging by between 12 and 8pm to fiddle with the cards or say they never heard of TiVo DVRs before ;)

samo

11-13-2008, 07:47 PM

heySkippy

11-14-2008, 08:40 AM

This isn't some Motel 6 sitting on an exit ramp from the highway we're talking about. Hopefully they'll care enough to make sure the stuff works.

ZeoTiVo

11-14-2008, 09:14 AM

Actually etz has the point. TVs in hotels are normally handled by the same maintanance crew that handles all minor repairs. If TV in a room doesn't work they just swap it for the spare. I'm not sure that these people will have a clue on how operate TiVo even if it is not broken. You have to understand that less than 5% of potential guests will have any knowledge about Tivo at all and something trivial to any of us may became a major irritation for the hotel's guest. Especially if it is an user error and the replacement unit does the same thing.

My wife could care less about tech, hates to have to learn how to use it. She had no idea why I would want to buy a TiVo nor how a DVR would make things easier/better.

The evening I brought one home and setit up - I had an earful from her on spending the money etc... When I came home from work the next day she had setup 3 season passes for the daytime shows she likes. My then 6 year old daughter had no problems finding the now playing list and going to the Bs to play Barney.

The core item that sets TiVo apart is the simplicity of its menu and ease of use for the everyday stuff. I am sure there will be people unhappy with trying to use some specific TiVo at the Hotel. The staff may even feel like this board does at times that the whole thing does not work and why did they ever install them.

Reality and management will see otherwise though in majority of users thinking having a DVR is a good feature and some will rebook at the hotel simply for that little extra of knowing they do not have to miss shows they want to see.

Curtis

11-17-2008, 12:27 PM

How is this not a copyright violation?

It's making money off public performance of recorded copyrighted programs.

nigebj

11-17-2008, 01:49 PM

How is this not a copyright violation?

It's making money off public performance of recorded copyrighted programs.

I assume you mean the whole concept of TiVO in a hotel as your comment is not associated with any specific comment in the thread. How is it different from providing a VCR, or indeed a TV in a hotel room ? It's just providing a convenience. Now if you are talking about shipping recordings in from home - that's a more thorny issues and with TiVO MRV performance a non-starter anyway IMHO.

Curtis

11-17-2008, 01:55 PM

I assume you mean the whole concept of TiVO in a hotel as your comment is not associated with any specific comment in the thread. How is it different from providing a VCR, or indeed a TV in a hotel room ? It's just providing a convenience. Now if you are talking about shipping recordings in from home - that's a more thorny issues and with TiVO MRV performance a non-starter anyway IMHO.
So I could charge admission and show programs that have been recorded off the air or off cable/satellite and the studios wouldn't be entitled to a cut of the profit?

ZeoTiVo

11-17-2008, 03:12 PM

So I could charge admission and show programs that have been recorded off the air or off cable/satellite and the studios wouldn't be entitled to a cut of the profit?

no you can not charge 'admission'

you can rent a room and provide a legal broadcast system and a way for the individual who rented the room to THEMSELVES record the program for later watching.

also there was the recent win for some cable company to house the DVRs at central office and let people access them through set top box. It was ruled legal as long as the customer setup the recordings and not the cable company.

so some doubt now on MRV from other rooms but no issue for one the renter uses personally

Curtis

11-17-2008, 03:35 PM

no you can not charge 'admission'

you can rent a room and provide a legal broadcast system and a way for the individual who rented the room to THEMSELVES record the program for later watching.So, the prerecorded programs will have to be erased each time a guest checks out I guess.

ZeoTiVo

11-17-2008, 04:12 PM

So, the prerecorded programs will have to be erased each time a guest checks out I guess.

maybe - That is a new legal area as well. Not even sure how much a broadcaster would want to go after such a thing. It is not like 50 people are gonna crowd into a room to watch something.

Curtis

11-17-2008, 04:27 PM

[A] performance made available by transmission to the public at large is “public” even though the recipients are not gathered in a single place…. The same principles apply whenever the potential recipients of the transmission represent a limited segment of the public, such as the occupants of hotel rooms….; they are also applicable where the transmission is capable of reaching different recipients at different times, as in the case of sounds or images stored in an information system and capable of being performed or displayed at the initiative of individual members of the public.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/20th_Century_Fox_Film_Corp._v._Cablevision_Systems_Corp. (link)

ZeoTiVo

11-17-2008, 04:40 PM

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/20th_Century_Fox_Film_Corp._v._Cablevision_Systems_Corp. (link)

so TVs in hotel rooms are illegal!?

Obviosuly they mean if you paid for one cable sub but broadcast it all over a Hotel versus whatever deals Hotel's do use with broadcasters.

Curtis

11-17-2008, 04:48 PM

so TVs in hotel rooms are illegal!?

Obviosuly they mean if you paid for one cable sub but broadcast it all over a Hotel versus whatever deals Hotel's do use with broadcasters.I believe the reference is to stored and replayed programs.

samo

11-17-2008, 07:26 PM

So, the prerecorded programs will have to be erased each time a guest checks out I guess.
I think it will be done not just for copyright. Imagine some conservative christian family turning TV on and (jaw drops) find it on a freeze frame of XXX flick. :)

dianebrat

11-17-2008, 07:26 PM

maybe - That is a new legal area as well. Not even sure how much a broadcaster would want to go after such a thing. It is not like 50 people are gonna crowd into a room to watch something.
I would have to think it was going to be "wipe with checkout" if only for the safety factor of the next guest checking in and finding something patently offensive sitting on the Tivo. (in other words.. what I just smeeked samo on while I was spell checking)

I can also see "pre-scheduling" recordings for something such as the Today show if NBC gave you enough $$$ up front.

Diane