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TiVo Gurus Launched

Tivo announced their Guru Recommendations program yesterday, allowing editors of popular magazines to share suggested show listings. It sounds like a good program, as finding new shows to watch is generally the most difficult thing to do with a TiVo (esp. if you're avoiding channel surfing). I'm sure the magazines pay for placement slots, but I would be interested in suggested shows from Entertainment Weekly and Automobile.

Of course it'd be way cooler if any TiVo user could create suggestions and share them on the TiVo site, like the way Amazon does Listmania. It wouldn't be too tough to extend existing TiVo Online accounts and the online scheduling, along with some browsing and voting by TiVo users to filter the best recommendations to the top.

by Matt Haughey May 23, 2006 in TiVo

Comments

TiVo is moving far too slowly in terms of building out its online / website functionality. It doesnt make any sense that the online scheduling site doesnt allow me to view my TO DO list, etc. - its like Im supposed to memorize my entire recording schedule to effectively use the online scheduling piece. TiVo probably argues that they are resource constrained and cant invest additional money in a cost center. However, there is a real business opportunity (ie: new revenue streams) to become THE online destination that bridges TV and the Internet - and TiVo is ideally positioned given that they control my entire TV viewing experience at home...

Posted by: New York at May 24, 2006 8:12:48 AM

I think that's precisely right. Having a few gurus tell us what shows they want to watch is fine, but the point is connected consumption, the ability for everyone to share their favorites that will make TiVo a successful social platform.

New York, the reason why TiVo doesn't release to do lists is that it would violate their privacy policy. We're working on a fix to this problem.

Posted by: Alexander Rowland at May 25, 2006 4:54:10 PM

The difference here is that the magazines will be paying tivo to run the guru's recommendations, I would assume, whereas there's no direct revenue related to providing support for customers to communicate with one another. That would change if Replay or one of the cable dvrs provided the functionality - then tivo might be facing a loss of customers.

Until that time, I suspect we'll see branded content getting the upper hand, so to speak.

Posted by: Larry W. Virden at May 26, 2006 9:03:06 AM

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