By Deborah Yao, Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --TiVo Inc., the pioneer of the digital video recorder, hopes its new DVRs coming out this spring will keep the company relevant in an age when broadcast and broadband will be combined in TVs.
The new TiVo Premiere boasts a thinner, sleeker look with a revamped menu and features that will more closely integrate TV shows and Internet content. A search for an actor, for instance, brings up his movies that are coming up on TV or available for rental or purchase through Amazon.com, as well as related YouTube videos.
“This is a whole new chapter in TiVo’s evolution,” CEO Tom Rogers said in an interview. “We’re moving toward ‘get anything you want whenever you want it.'”
In doing so, the company also hopes to regain the cachet that made the word “TiVo” synonymous with TV recording – a verb that has faded in use with the rise of generic recorders that cable TV companies make available to their subscribers. TiVo could use a sales boost because the com pany has barely ever made money.
In the first few years after TiVo was founded in 1997, its DVRs were truly revolutionary. Today, the integration of TV and the Internet is available in a growing number of devices, from Moxi DVRs to Internet-enabled TV sets. TiVo has to work harder to stand out.
Its answer is the TiVo Premiere, due to hit retail stores in early April in TiVo’s first product launch in more than two years. The $499 Premiere XL will be able to store up to 150 hours of high-definition TV on its 1-terabyte hard drive. The $299 Premiere can store up to 45 hours of HD TV on its 320-gigabyte hard drive. The DVR uses Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash software, which is widely deployed on the Web and will enable TiVo to let third-party developers create applications for the new units.
The prices of the new DVRs are comparable to the current line. They will require subscription fees ranging from $12.95 a month to $299 for three years. Customers can also choos e to pay the fees in one lump sum of $399 to last the life of the unit.
TiVo also fixed a few annoyances for customers. Viewers of a TV show can now surf the menu without having to leave the show. It will shrink to a small window and keep playing. Searching for shows will be easier with a new remote that has a keyboard. But it costs extra and won’t be available until late summer or early fall. Pricing has not yet been set.
A new disk-space bar will show how much storage is left. And a new video bar across the menu screen will show what’s popular or recommend shows you might want to watch. Previously that required navigating several menus.
“TiVo has Amazon on its boxes, YouTube and Blockbuster and (the list will) likely grow over time,” said Tony Wible, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott. “TiVo helps aggregate all this stuff.”
Although TiVo could claim its product was superior to the generic DVRs provided by cable and phone companies, its base of cu stomers, who are typically big TV aficionados, has shrunk to 1.5 million from an all-time high of 1.7 million in 2008. DVRs from the cable company can be compelling because consumers can lease them for a comparable monthly fee, without having to buy the unit.
That, and high research and development expenses, has made TiVo a consistent money loser. TiVo, which is based in Alviso, Calif., has had only one year with a net profit. That was the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2009, when it got $103.3 million after taxes for prevailing in a patent lawsuit against Dish Network Corp. Regulatory filings show that TiVo accumulated net losses of more than $600 million since its inception in 1997.
In hopes of consistently turning profits, TiVo has been changing its business strategy.
The company is licensing its menu guide and features to Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc. to replace the on-screen guide used in cable DVRs. It is developing a box exclusively for Direc TV Inc. that will work with the satellite TV operator’s system. Rogers said these won’t have all the features of the new TiVo DVR. But customers of cable TV operator RCN Corp. will, because RCN will be leasing TiVo’s new DVRs to its subscribers.
Wible expects TiVo to sell more of its own DVRs to smaller cable companies and license the technology to bigger cable providers. The bigger companies would find it too expensive to replace millions of DVRs and likely would opt to download TiVo’s software instead.
If subscription TV companies won’t pay a license fee, TiVo has another strategy: taking them to court. TiVo holds many patents related to the DVR and is suing operators it believes has infringed on those rights. In addition to the case it brought against Dish, TiVo is suing AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.
Oscar and Emmy-Winning Composer Kris Bowers Joins Barking Owl For Advertising, Branded Content
Music, audio post and sonic branding house Barking Owl has taken on exclusive representation of Oscar and Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers for advertising and branded content.
Bowers’ recent film scores include The Wild Robot and Bob Marley: One Love, alongside acclaimed past works such as The Color Purple (2023), King Richard and Green Book. His contributions to television are equally impressive, with scores for hit series like Bridgerton, When They See Us, Dear White People, and his Daytime Emmy Award-winning score for The Snowy Day.
In addition to his work as a composer, Bowers is a visionary director. He recently took home the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for his directorial work on The Last Repair Shop. The emotionally touching short film spotlights four of the people responsible for repairing the musical instruments used by students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The Last Repair Shop reflects the positive influence that musical instruments have on the youngsters who play them, and the adults in the LAUSD free repair service who keep them working and in tune.
Barking Owl CEO Kirkland Alexander Lynch said of Bowers, “His artistry, diversity of style and depth of storytelling bring an unparalleled edge to the work we create for global brands. His presence on our roster reflects our continued commitment to pushing the boundaries of sound and music in advertising.”
Johanna Cranitch, creative director, Barking Owl, added, “Kris first caught my attention when he released his record ‘Heroes + Misfits’ where he fused together his jazz sensibility with a deeply ingrained aptitude for melody, so beautifully.... Read More