Virgin should buy TiVo...

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by TheDon

Same reason it didn't take off when it had a deal with Sky here.

Networks have their own PVRs now, people prefer one box solutions. Cable cards can make tivo a one box solution, but, in the past you lost access to interactive content. It's still a nightmare to get a cable card from some providers, and the move to SDV also hurt tivo.

Basically, consumers want to get their boxes from their providers, no hassle, everything works.

Hence why tivo is now working on providing boxes for providers.

But cable operators already supply Tivo directly in the US, they have done for years.

The biggest of them all Comcast does.

Those churn figures are truly awful, no company can survive losing 21% of it's customer base in a year so I really hope the new alliances in Europe help them.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by mersey70

But cable operators already supply Tivo directly in the US, they have done for years.

The biggest of them all Comcast does.

Those churn figures are truly awful, no company can survive losing 21% of it's customer base in a year so I really hope the new alliances in Europe help them.

I would have to agree they are truly awful figures , especially for a so called box that people state once you've used it you'll never go elsewhere.

[borrissey]

Lets hope they don't go out of business will be no support for the box then.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

I would have to agree they are truly awful figures , especially for a so called box that people state once you've used it you'll never go elsewhere.

Maybe it's just too expensive for them given the economic situation, thankfully it has a different pricing structure here.

Or maybe it just dosen't offer enough over and above a standard PVR, this has been my concern all along that most people just want their favourite channels and the ability to record them.

I just don't think Joe Bloggs needs or cares for most of it's features really but that's just my view, I hope i'm wrong.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by mersey70

Maybe it's just too expensive for them given the economic situation, thankfully it has a different pricing structure here.

Or maybe it just dosen't offer enough over and above a standard PVR, this has been my concern all along that most people just want their favourite channels and the ability to record them.

I just don't think Joe Bloggs needs or cares for most of it's features really.

Sky reckon it's a box for enthusiasts but then again they would say that , only time will tell how popular it becomes.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcas...rvice.html?rss

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Sky reckon it's a box for enthusiasts but then again they would say that , only time will tell how popular it becomes.

Well if Tivo has less than 2 million customers and has lost almost a quarter of their total customer base in a year in a country of over 300 million they could, very sadly, well be right.

But you cant polish a turd, there is no way of putting a gloss on those numbers. They are disastrous.

Secretly I would guess VM must be most concerned.

[TonyHoyle]

In the US they've got Tivo an ReplayTV which offer similar functionality, the ability to stream video to/from a PVR is not novel, and their entire market is much more mature - you can setup a PC that with a card in it that can give you full control over your recording if you so wish.. it's standardised.

I wonder how much of that churn is Cableco related - it would only take a couple of the bigger ones to switch to a different system and they could lose huge numbers of customers.

OTOH I also think Tivo has lost its way somewhat.. I was pondering today the comparison between the S1 and the VM box (technically an S4). It should be eyewateringly good by now but it just manages to be 'as good'. Way better than anything we've seen before in the UK, but not what I expect from 10 years of development. However it's the only game in town.. Breaking away from the glorified VCRs that we've settled for in the UK has been a long time coming.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by TonyHoyle

In the US they've got Tivo an ReplayTV which offer similar functionality, the ability to stream video to/from a PVR is not novel, and their entire market is much more mature - you can setup a PC that with a card in it that can give you full control over your recording if you so wish.. it's standardised.

I wonder how much of that churn is Cableco related - it would only take a couple of the bigger ones to switch to a different system and they could lose huge numbers of customers.

OTOH I also think Tivo has lost its way somewhat.. I was pondering today the comparison between the S1 and the VM box (technically an S4). It should be eyewateringly good by now but it just manages to be 'as good'. Way better than anything we've seen before in the UK, but not what I expect from 10 years of development. However it's the only game in town.. Breaking away from the glorified VCRs that we've settled for in the UK has been a long time coming.

I just cannot help but think that most average TV susbscribers have absolutely no need for what Tivo does. As you put it, glorified VCR's are more than suffiice for most of us.

And those ghastly figures could sort of bear that out, most people are obviously happy with a standard PVR, if they have a PVR at all.

[muppetman11]

Crunch gear seem to agree with your thoughts

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/03/03...-new-premiere/

http://www.i4u.com/34675/tivo-premie...ement-new-tivo

[Digital Fanatic]

I think the one-box solution and integrating in to platforms is the way forward. it's an expensive add on if its on top of your sat or cable bill and as Mersey70 say's, it could be the recession hitting hard in the US also... it's around £12 for TiVo stand-alone in the US.

[muppetman11]

I sort of agree DF however not sure whether switchers from other tv providers will be happy to pay a fee each month even at just £3.00 a month , don't forget we pay enough already to either VM or Sky.

[mersey70]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Crunch gear seem to agree with your thoughts

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/03/03...-new-premiere/

http://www.i4u.com/34675/tivo-premie...ement-new-tivo

One thing I will say about Tivo (and i'll probably get strung up for saying so) is that there is no way in a million years I would expect to have to be still manually padding recordings to make sure I catch the end.

It has all the bells and whistles, menus look great, search options seem wonderful. The trouble is on the most basic function of a PVR, recording which is surely the reason people want a PVR it simply isn't as clever as a Sky+ box because it has no dynamic EPG. I love V+ as it does the job, im no techie and it's dead simple, ok no dynamic EPG but nor has Tivo. Lego brick graphics and all that but it's simple, it does what I want and need it to. I really have no interest watching YouTube on the telly and I reckon i'm a pretty Joe Bloggs sort of customer.

And on the other side Joe Bloggs presses record on Sky+ and forgets about it and if things change your box changes too and I am pretty sure that's all he cares about with his box, watching TV and a dead simple PVR that does the hard work for him. That would have been a selling point to me but Tivo hasn't got it, it seems to concentrate on peripheral features too much for me.

---------- Post added at 22:44 ---------- Previous post was at 22:43 ----------

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

I think the one-box solution and integrating in to platforms is the way forward. it's an expensive add on if its on top of your sat or cable bill and as Mersey70 say's, it could be the recession hitting hard in the US also... it's around £12 for TiVo stand-alone in the US.

I think it is probably more than just the recession.

A standard PVR is probably enough for what average joe wants, or needs. I know Tivo has never been mainstream but that churn rate is diabolical and must be of huge concern at Virgin Towers.

[muppetman11]

The lack of Dynamic EPG will be a bigger concern for sports fans as live games can finish late for all manner of reasons. V+ has done me a few times on ESPN HD Monday night football NFL.

[HDFootyMan]

Originally Posted by mersey70

A standard PVR is probably enough for what average joe wants, or needs. I know Tivo has never been mainstream but that churn rate is diabolical and must be of huge concern at Virgin Towers.

Well, soon from now they'll have 3.8 million 'subscribers' via VM.

Plus customers from Spanish cable operator ONO and from Canal Digital (Nordic countries).

No wonder their focusing on supplying software to other platforms with Quarterly results like today's.

---------- Post added at 23:05 ---------- Previous post was at 23:02 ----------

Originally Posted by muppetman11

The lack of Dynamic EPG will be a bigger concern for sports fans as live games can finish late for all manner of reasons.

I'd actually put reminders (and all existing V+ HD functionality) above a Dynamic EPG. Firmware updates should be able to fix both issues.

The lack of a TiVo at my home is another issue, but that's for another thread.

[muppetman11]

When you look at US subscriber figures , it tells you how big a deal with VM this is for TIVO.