TiVo gettin' political?

This election is closer than any in decades, and everyone seems to have politics on their mind these days. Unfortunately, a couple people reported that TiVo isn't immune to this.

I'll preface this by saying these are simply "reports from the field" but keep in mind both people making claims have strong political beliefs and it's possible they're looking for something where none exists.

Claim: Michael Pate pointed me to right wing blogger Wizbang claiming that a F9/11 special was taped without his request. For what it's worth, my TiVo taped the same thing, but as a standard suggested recording, which is to be expected since I watch a lot of documentaries and that show was tagged as such.

Verdict: Since it was a manual recording, someone programmed this in on his TiVo. I'm siding with those in his comments that say it could have been a friend messing with him, as they likely used the manual record so the show couldn't be spotted in the To Do list. I bet it was a friend pulling a prank, and no one has reported anything similar.

Claim: Mike Skallas, a liberal blogger, is claiming his DirecTiVo taped a special Kerry-bashing Fox News Showcase early this morning. He says it shows up as a showcase recording that he can't delete.

Verdict: I'm unsure about this because I have a DirecTiVo myself and it doesn't have any specially taped Fox News program. It's actually not showing the showcases right now, but then I haven't been hooked to a phone line in weeks. I can't back this up, but if it wasn't just a suggested recording and actually showed up in the Showcase space, this could really be a big deal. Perhaps a big enough deal that DirecTV loses some loyal customers over it. Has anyone spotted this on their DirecTiVo this morning? If so, can you take a photo to show it in the showcases?

Comments

[David]

Both of my DirecTiVo's recorded an 8-minute FNC "Election Coverage" showcase, but I think it would be a stretch to claim it favored one candidate over the other...

[Joost Schuur]

There's actually at least 2 separate pieces, the one I found yesterday (as a normal showcase item with a yellow star item in the main menu) on my DirecTiVo has already been replaced with a new one this morning.

They're both around 8 minutes long. The first part consists of 1-2 minutes of campaign updates from each side and yesterday's had some stock market experts giving their stock picks depending on who won. Today's focuses on VP candidates.

I don't watch Fox much, so I can't judge if it's particular partisan for them or not, but it didn't seem blatantly pro or anti any candidate.

[sixtoe]

My TiVo keeps recording Deutsche Welle World News from Germany--proof that TiVo is run by Neo-Nazis. I love my TiVo. But I don't like Nazis. What should I do?

[Rob]

My DirectTivo recorded the FNC "Election Coverage" showcase also.

[MegaZone]

Keep in mind that the DirecTiVos are controled by DirecTV and *not* TiVo. DirecTV can have them record showcases, etc, completely outside the control of TiVo. And DTV is controlled by News Corp, meaning Rupert Murdoch, who certainly doesn't hide his politics. So I wouldn't doubt a DirecTiVo recording biased coverage from Fox News (that's redundant), but you can't blame TiVo.

[Matt]

My DirecTV HD DVR has no political showcase or recorded suggestions of any Fox News shows, and it is both active and hooked to a phone line, and made its last call at 1:58 AM Sunday morning.

If you don't like a program the thing keeps recording, put two or three thumbs down on it. Within a few days, it'll stop.

[Josh]

I have two DirecTiVo's. Neither connected to a phone line (and both heavily and nearly identically modified.)

One got the Fox News special (7 minutes) as a "yellow star" on the main TiVo screen, and the other did not.

I wouldn't say that it is necessarily "Kerry bashing" as much as it seems to lean in favor of Bush. The coverage certainly to favor him... in focus, word choice and overall tone.

[skallas]

Matt, the link has been updated with a screenshot.

Yes, its real. Yes, its slightly unethical. Yes its pro-Bush.

The real issue isn't that the Tivo does this as much as oversight and balance in the media, especially when Murdoch owns not only DirecTV but the DirecTivo service as well. His company has free reign to put whatever they please into my Tivo showcases. Of course, its not a big deal when it comes to commercial offerings, but one-sided politics the day before the election is a warning sign that media regulation probably isn't doing its job.

[Julie L]

The mandatory SHOWCASE recordings are extremely annoying. I called tech support and they said there is nothing I can do to stop them from recording. I just got one called SONGS OF PRAISE FOR CHRISTMAS! What if a user isn't religious? Best option is for us all to revolt and let them know we need the option to stop them from recording. See: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=66279
The 888 # is disconnected. The author said the letter he/she wrote was responded to with a phone call. Write:
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DirecTV
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