TiVo 3 million strong

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TiVo 3 million strong

TiVo announced today that it added 698,000 subscribers in the quarter ending January 31st, pushing them over the 3 million mark. Given all the recent bad news for the company the 3 million subscriber milestone is probably a good reason to celebrate out in Alviso. Not all is well though, they're still very dependent on the DirecTV market; the split between DirecTV and standalone was 447,000 to 251,000.

by George Hotelling February 18, 2005 in TiVo

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Given the huge price differential ($13 for a single DVR vs. $5 for all) I'm surprised the differential isn't bigger than that.

Posted by: Xrlq at Feb 18, 2005 8:46:15 AM

As a DirecTV/Tivo customer, I personally can't see why I'd want to go to stand alone units. I have other methods of getting MP3's into my audio system, I don't need TivoToGo badly enough to warrant the extra expense, and paying more for monthly subs just doesn't make financial sense for the features. I'd love to see Tivo stay around and grow, but they aren't going to do it on my dime.

Realistically, they aren't going to do it via boutique features either. The masses don't need HMO or TivotoGo, and the masses are what they need to go out an buy stand alone Tivo boxes.

Posted by: Bruce at Feb 18, 2005 10:23:14 AM

Tivo cannot appeal to the masses, but I think you are mistaken if you think that they are really trying to. This is a huge market and Tivo is positioning themselves as a niche player. Just like there will always be people that want the cheapest option, there will always be people that want the best option.
Granted right now, transfering pictures and mp3's might not be worth the $8 spread in price, but Tivo just released their HME and I think we will start to see rapid growth in features. The more features Tivo adds, the cheaper and cheaper that $8 starts to look.

They added 700,000 subs this quarter. That was a tremendous forecast, and it looks to me like the DTV/standalone ratio is actually moving towards more standalones. In my opinion Tivo is succeeding, carefully and steadily.

Posted by: Tyson at Feb 18, 2005 11:38:48 AM

250K independents in one quarter? Not too bad. I agree with Tyson, now is the time to start pushing the envelope with features and addons - the Yahoo approach.

Posted by: peBird at Feb 18, 2005 12:28:22 PM

Tivo doesnt need to be in every houshold it needs to make money, but they need to be careful not to make the mistake apple did long ago, namely being to0 tight with thier software and watching the world go by. Tring to find new and improved hardware all the time to sell is not an easy task, got to get the software to the masses, then you can make the big bucks off the premium users

Posted by: MB at Feb 19, 2005 6:37:28 AM

I have read lots of TiVo bashing posts which miss the idea from the other side, for 1 there is this amazing simple clean interface which TiVo works with that makes using apps easy which other dvr/pvr/cable miss (in fact they suck most of the time), moving around is clunky, nothing is smooth and you *must* upgrade boxes (call and wait for your cable op to be ready), on the flip TiVo is genuine smart Linux stuff @ work.

The other thing I never see mentioned is the fact that developers would never be able to develop apps on a cable operator's box (nor would they ever be able to crank out apps in such timeframe, need an eBay app? 1-2 years they would tell you). If you do it on your own there seem to be massive certification costs which developers must face (I could be wrong).

I think once they give developers video streaming capability things will really take off.

Posted by: jonbaer at Feb 20, 2005 5:33:55 AM

DirecTivo is the killer app. It is the only reason I got a TiVo years ago. Pictures, mp3, yada, yada, yada. Who cares. I want ONE, and only ONE remote, and my Series 1 Sony DirecTiVo does that.

Posted by: Amos the Poker Cat at Feb 22, 2005 12:46:54 PM

Amos has it right...DirecTivo is the killer app. Todd Lokken.

Posted by: Todd Lokken at Sep 23, 2005 7:53:21 AM

TiVo 3 million strong

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