TiVO loses thousands of customers
TiVo is still struggling to add customers, and miscalculations over the popularity of its HDTV products also hurt the company’s bottom line for the quarter ending in July. The Alviso, Calif. DVR maker’s continued struggles highlight the need for the company to get its cable partners moving. More than two years after Comcast announced it would put TiVo on some of its set top boxes, there has yet to be a single commercial rollout. TiVo actually lost 145,000 customers in the quarter. More troubling is where it is losing paying subscribers: from those that have the standalone box, its most profitable segment.
The decline was the first in the company’s history. Furthermore, the company underestimated the popularity of its new HDTV DVRs, causing it to take a $11.2 million writedown for leftover models of its standard DVR still in its inventories. The growth “progressed at a pace that surprised many in the industry, including us,” CEO Tom Rogers said in a conference call. These problems added up to a $17.7 million loss, down sharply from the $3.5 million loss in the year-ago quarter. The losses far outpaced both TiVo’s and financial analyst’s predictions. Damn, can you imagine TV scene without those HDTV tags in the release names?
Source: Betanews
Sucks for TiVO!
Just another useless service like many other in the US who love to show that they are “deeply in a deep kind of concerned way” about “user’s experience” but in fact they care only about their millions.
Next who will suck it? Apple’s iPhone. They are also extremely concerned about “user’s experience”. That’s why they chose to sell their crap locked down…
All these big brothers make me vomit.
I love my TIVO on DirecTV. I would never trade it for directv’s own dvr brand. It sucks so bad.
Tivo has a great interface. I hate paying a subscription so I got the Tivo with a dvd-r burner on it and it comes with tivo basic . . . which is free
The monthly fees for tv suck. . . next will be a mythtv box if the tivo dies.
As far as HDTV as a factor, next year will be better than this year.
I love my Tivo! And I definitely don’t miss paying monthly for a shitty DVR box.
So if people are dropping TiVo, what are they using? Nothing? Or is there something better?
eztv….just download the shows you like
I guess I am one of 145,000. I had tivo for 5 years, and recently dumped it. Cable on demand is fine in 99% cases.
I am tired of paying subscriptions, and cleaning the darn thing.
I just use Dish Networks basic DVR system. It’s not perfect, but it’s costing me just $3 more per month. I guess I just don’t understand what TiVo is all about, I was under the impression that it was a subscription service that recorded television programs…is there a free version? Cause if not, I don’t see what’s so special about it.
If I could just drop a card into a TiVo from my choice of services I’d have 4 of them instead of 3 Dishnet boxes and a ReplayTV… ok, nm…. I’m keeping the Replay regardless.
I’ve had three TiVo’s and still work on/upgrade ones that friends have. I really like the interface and if I could get them for half the current monthly fee, they might have a chance of switching me back to cable.
TiVo used to be big bad shit when it came out, but now that DVR is common technology TiVo has lost alot of its luster. TiVo still has some cool features compared to regular DVR boxes that you can get from your cable company but not enough to warrant buying into the TiVo package.
Also Digital and HD TV Tuner cards have replaced the need to have a separate box to do what a PCI card in your computer can do. This is just the evolution of a free market, do the math:
TiVo option:
-Baseline HDTV DVR $299
-Puny little 150GB HD (20hours of HDTV)
-Contract fine print that lets them charge you exit penalties and fees if you dont stay with them for an agreed upon time
-Proprietary box that wont work with any other provider
-Cannot upgrade without voiding your factory warranty
Setting up your own DVR:
-Good HDTV tuner card $109.85
-150GB HD $53.14
-No contract, no fees, no bullshit for half the price
-Free to upgrade any time you feel like it
Not to mention that you can easily upgrade which is a big deal because 20 hours of HDTV programming sounds like alot, but you will fill it up after about 1-3 weeks. You could build yourself a 1TB DVR for about the same price as a TiVo 150GB one. TiVo blows, or at the very least is for people that cannot upgrade their computer themselves.
lol who actually watches cable nowadays?
get a dreambox, hook up to a cardserver and watch everything on cable & satellite for free..
@ #12
There is still plenty of good TV on. Discovery HD Theater has loads of very well put together, informative HDTV content. Also PBS HD has Nature, Nova, and a few cooking shows that i like. HBO HD and SHOWTIME HD have movies in 1080i HD quality and dont have to be downloaded, just recorded
Also HD quality NFL football games and NCAA football games, and other miscellaneous sporting events need to be recorded from time to time.
Not all TV is bullshit and garbage, just most of it ;P
Windows Media Center has a guide and interface that is equal to the beautiful TIVO interface, but costs absolutely nothing each month.
meh don’t even get TiVO in my country
i just use my HD-recorder to record tv shows
lol.. TiVO was cool back in 2002, now i have a fat pipe and all the HDTV i want on usenet.
They should come to Australia and sell it.