TiVo Struggles

september 7, 2005

TiVo is struggling to stay alive. How do I know? Proof. TiVo has started a program to play the price card, selling a 40-hour TiVo for $199 and then giving a whopping $150 mail-in rebate. Yes, you can get a 40-hour TiVo for $49.99 now. Yikes, like they mention in the article, this has got to be a money losing venture for TiVo to try to capture more subscribers. The problem I see for TiVo is that they aren't "compatible" with many of the digital set-top boxes. For instance, even if I wanted to use a TiVo with my DishNetwork setup, it would be pretty difficult -- I'd have to setup an IR blaster and still have only control of one channel (ie. no watching another channel while one is recording). On top of that, most satellite and cable companies offer DVRs (albeit a bit less functional and fancy as a TiVo) for free or for a low cost. A TiVo costs $49.99 and has $12.95 a month for service. My DishNetwork DVR (which is not all that bad, can record 100-hours of video, and can record while I watch a second channel) cost me nothing up front; I only pay $5 a month for leasing it and for the DVR "service". I hope TiVo can pull off a miracle and survive, but I can't see how.


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