Does anyone think another Tivo merger/takeover will be good for consumers?

Any time there is a significant stock price drop the vultures will come knocking on the door with PE offers. A PE scenario would be drastically different from a strategic M&A with another player in the market.

 

Who ever will pay $20/sh for TiVo will want something from the TiVo product, if just ending the product line was a good move the CO. would have done it itself.

 

Interesting. I bought some TiVo two weeks ago. Nice.

 

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Roku’s recent IPO success is the reason for the interest in taking TiVO private. Once private they can take their time “fixing” TiVo’s problems and adding new revenue streams, such as a TiVo version of The Roku Channel, with an eventual large payoff IPO.

 

Interesting. I wonder what the bidders see in TiVo's future that would compel them to buy out the company? There's definitely some value there -- mainly in their patent portfolio and their metadata services that allow for content discovery across various sources. But patents expire and the retail cable DVR market is a shrinking niche. Meanwhile, the entire pay TV market is shrinking and evolving, particularly among the small-to-midsize operators where TiVo is a potential STB solutions provider. I don't see anything there that would justify paying above-market prices for the stock so that it could be taken private but kept on its current course.

 

Another curious item: President & CEO of Tivo Corp (TIVO) Enrique Rodriguez bought 55,974 shares of TIVO on 12/01/2017 at an average price of $17.86 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $999,696.

It was after reading this that I picked up some shares. That and the 5% dividend.

 

Perhaps it's not WHAT they see in TiVo's future, but that they see a future at all? I don't know what Rovi's plan for it is, but I do know I'm not the only one who doesn't know, and the last year has seen a general lack of focus that can be explained away by "merging issues" for only so long. If someone has a good plan for TiVo's future, then I'm all for it. I don't even care if that someone turns out to be Rovi.

 

I suspect you'd look long and hard to find any merger/takeover that was good for consumers .

 

Well, TiVo's path has definitely been uncertain since the Rovi merger, due partly to the merger and partly to having an interim CEO. But with a new CEO in place last month, and the merger now pretty much completed, we should see some clearer sense of direction for the company in 2018.

 

I hate to say it but I think Tivo is essentially dead. Especially since the ROvio merger, they have not really done much new or innovative. They are getting passed by in the integration of streaming / OTA by players like Roku, AirTV, and others. If they step up with an integrated guide / dvr that creates a truly seamless experience between OTA and streaming services, they have a chance. Unfortunately, they have not really moved the needle at all and continue to fall behind. I do not think that even BestBuy still carries Tivo products in the stores.

 

BestBuy still stocks Tivo around here.

 

They had them here about a year ago. Recently I went to buy a mini. Although there are numerous BB's near me, nearest one that had anything Tivo in stock was 150 miles away. They are usually on the bottom shelf collecting dust. I suppose Tivo fell victim to the Innovator's Dilemma.

 

The new garish interface certainly appears like they want to be just another cable box company. It looks very much like my mom's Spectrum cable box, which I hate except for the part where she can do on-demand and PPV.

 

I have a TiVo home, my two married kids have TiVo homes. That because we started with TiVo before cable had any DVRs, and just upgraded through the years (selling the old TiVos on E-Bay) because we were use to the TiVo UI. The MSO move slowly in upgrading because of all the old cable boxes already in customers hands, and most MSO have almost a monopoly in their area, especially for fast home internet. Comcast new X1 system is good enough that if I was just starting today with getting cable I would never think about TiVo and most likely not know much or anything about TiVo, and just get the Comcast system, except for big homes with many TVs Comcast is less money, and you get full on-site service, equipment replacement on the spot (if needed), little or no hassle for the average family (not the people on this Forum). For the people that say TiVo is less expensive I will point out that if I were just starting out and purchased a Bolt + and Lifetime service my cost would be about $900 to $1000, Comcast would give me back about $30/year for not using their DVR system, not much a return on investment. TiVo had a good 20 year run (but did not make much money on sales) and will be around (I think) for another 5 to 10 years, after that your guess is as good as my guess

 

If you have ATT it’s a great deal to bundle that with DirecTV and stream shows for no data charges. And the upcoming Disney Fox acquisition will bring a huge catalog of shows to their future streaming service not to mention integrating all of Fox’s Marvel assets into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Both are huge wins for consumers.

 

We have Comcast and would have to pay an extra $19.95 a month to use Comcast's DVR ($10.00 DVR Service plus $9.95 HD Technology Fee) plus lose our $2.50 COE credit so we save $269.40 a year with TiVo on our main TV (not counting the second TV in our son's game room with the Mini). This is with a Double Play Digitial Preferred plus HBO package.

Do you have a package that includes the DVR service and HD technology fee?

Scott

 

Without Tivo/mini you would also be paying a second outlet fee and a second cable box rental. Your savings is bigger than you think.

 

Oh I know, I just wasn't counting it since it's not really used much (only when my son visits since he's off at college pretty much year round) and I just wanted to put out our savings for a single TV/outlet that's included with package. I wouldn't have a TV with service in his game room without the Mini.

Scott

 

Hmm, I don't know. I think it will be a few years before we really understand all the ripple effects of this mega-merger across the entire TV and movie industries and the impact it will have on consumers. It's going to affect Hulu, the Fox broadcast network, and probably the entire pay TV ("cable TV") industry. We'll see...