TiVo to return to the UK

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I wonder if this move will influence Sky to re-think their own position with TIVO for both the U.K. Sky television and U.S.A. DirecTV markets? I sure hope so. Rupert, it's high time that you admit that alienating your business from TIVO in favor of substituting it with your own, proprietary technology is a HUGE mistake. It's also time to bring TIVO back into the fold.

 

But Sky+ seems to be very successful, from what I've read. And so what if it's proprietary technology? So is TiVo - it's closed, and licensed to prevent usage anywhere other than in TiVo boxes.

I'm speaking as someone who had a TiVo, and was disgusted myself with Sky for helping market it, and then bring out a competitive product themselves. That said though, it has worked for them.

 

I was in a TV focus group today. The interviewer was showing use a US Tivo for the advertising interface. He mentioned that Tivo were coming back to the Uk becuase Sky's marketing deal had expired, so Tivo can sell it here again.

 

Hey, we all have our preferences. I'm still hoping this forces Sky's hand. I've seen and used the R15 which is based on the Sky+ DVR and I'm not impressed.

 

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Just to remind everyone... it is HIGHLY unlikely any of these rumours are true. Whilst it would be nice, lets not get carried away. If I was a betting man I'd bet this is a load of rubbish.

 

Just to ensure it doesn't get lost...

From http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=303090

pdf made, just in case!

 

Before getting too carried away, has MrTickle actually agreed to letting Gary eat his hat.

 

He agrees (for the **** up TV rumour)
If the Decipher rumour is true then I'm keeping it!

 

I know that. You know that.

However, will a Currys sales droid be able to get that over to Joe Public and will Joe public appreciate that it's worth paying a subscription for?

Joe Public is likely to question paying for a TiVo EPG when the likes of 4TV do an EPG for free.

 

That's a possibilty. Maybe TiVo have been unable to release a new UK model due to contractural reasons?

Sky: "Here's lots of dosh, TiVo, all you gotta do is sign this bit of paper. Don't worry about the small print. We want to work with you on this, honest".

TiVo: "OK"

Sky: "Tee hee!"

 

Uncle Rupy would never do anything like that though, would he?

 

Well at least Thomson is bring out a new PVR for the half baked Top Up TV "Video on Demand" service.


Available this Autumn

 

Yep. No way would TiVo get away with a £10 a month sub for an epg nowadays.

Maybe the answer would be for them to sell banner advertising on the various Tivo Menus and interactive links within progs (which would be clever if you could store the interactive content on the tivo along with the clip).

 

Then again, the Tivo EPG is a lot more than x programme on y channel at z time. It's all the meta-data behind it that's the 'clever bit'; which is what you're paying for. Maybe

 

Not sure how you come to that conclusion. Sky get away with it for Sky+ unless you take out one of their top tier packages, and there is no lifetime option.

 

Sky have everyone over a barrell - they kill the pvr functionality if you don't pay the £10 (if you don't have the premium channels).

I would like to see how many people actually pay Sky £10 a month for it.

 

Why won't old Rupey die already anyway? He's as old as the hills. What keeps that geezer going?

 

Maybe many don't pay £10 per month. I don't I upgraded my package. As a reult I pay Sky even more than £10 per month extra! Who wins?!

 

Very few pay the extra £10. The majority (about 2/3 IIRC) of all Sky subscribers fulfill the "getting it free" criteria, and I would think among people with a Sky+ box they would be even more likely to have a qualifying package.

 

OK, but all that reinforces my point.

Who amongst the tivo-unknowing general British public would buy a Tivo pvr now at a cost of £10 a month.

Either: a) £10 on top of a Sky sub, making the overall cost quite a lot or
b) £10 on top of a freeview box, which isn't a lot but goes against the general 'freeview' mentality...

So, I dont thing a monthly sub is a valid business model, & if they tried it, they'd fail in the UK again.

Getting money out of advertisers is a much more likely proposition, & Tivo would be ideally placed for that with a bit of clever programming...

With the continuing growth of PVRs, the whole advertising model goes down the drain. You can't force the populace to watch 3 and a half minutes of comms every 12 minutes or so in primetime. Instead, you have to be able to use the pvr platform to deliver comms in it's own right.

Instead of the current real-time red dot interactive advertising, you could have a Tivo platform offering time-shifted interactive advertising loading a browser straight onto the manufacturers website.

The potential is absolutely huge...