Has TiVo cut its ties with Telecom?

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scuwp

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Topic # 66096 12-Aug-2010 08:25

I note the new TiVo ads on TV do not mention Telecom at all, and in fact now state (in very small writing) that Caspa and the EPG are now available through any ISP.

Has it finally moved to the free market?
Do all ISP's now have unmetered access?
Does Telecom still have unmetered access? (I heard somewhere this was only a limited deal anyway?)

Can anyone in-the-know clarify whats happened.

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freitasm

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Reply # 366618 12-Aug-2010 08:35

scuwp:

Do all ISP's now have unmetered access?
Does Telecom still have unmetered access? (I heard somewhere this was only a limited deal anyway?)

Caspa downloads on Telecomn are unmetered. Caspa downloads on other ISPs are metered.

There are rumours that new ISPs would get into the unmetered deal, but nothing announced.

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Ragnor

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Reply # 366780 12-Aug-2010 13:44

I doubt any other ISP would bother with putting the engineering resources into doing unmetered for Tivo because the uptake of the device has been so small, it wouldn't be worthwhile.

Given the amount they have spent on licensing and marketing vs uptake - I predict an early demise for Tivo in NZ.

minigopher17

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Reply # 366782 12-Aug-2010 13:47

I heard Telecom didn't sell enough units by a certain date, so lost exclusivity.

What TiVo needs is to be sold in appliance stores like Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming and the like so they can get thrown in as a deal when you buy a new TV (just like SkyTV does in some places).

freitasm

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Reply # 366786 12-Aug-2010 13:50

minigopher17: I heard Telecom didn't sell enough units by a certain date, so lost exclusivity.

What TiVo needs is to be sold in appliance stores like Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming and the like so they can get thrown in as a deal when you buy a new TV (just like SkyTV does in some places).

QFT...

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scuwp

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Reply # 366810 12-Aug-2010 14:44

minigopher17: I heard Telecom didn't sell enough units by a certain date, so lost exclusivity.

What TiVo needs is to be sold in appliance stores like Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming and the like so they can get thrown in as a deal when you buy a new TV (just like SkyTV does in some places).

Couldn't agree more.

Given (if I undertsand it correctly) that TVNZ own a substantial share of Hybrid in NZ I wouldn't think it would just suddenly quit it?

I might hang out for a bit and see what develops. The new Panasionic MyFreeview devices also look attractive by comparison...

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JimmyH

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Reply # 366940 12-Aug-2010 20:15

Part of the trouble (IMHO) is the TIVO tie-in to Freeview and TVNZ, which means that they are intentionally limiting the device because of the conflicting issues of their owner. TVNZ wants to spin a buck on its Hybrid investment, compete with Sky, and not undermine its existing business model. This means that the product in NZ tries to balance competing interests and as a consequence is "neither fish nor fowl" as the old saying goes.

Because the product tries to be quite sophisticated to take on MySky and has to licence the TIVO technology it is likely fairly expensive to make, and because they sell it upfront without a subscription they have to load this plus a margin into the purchase price. This means the unit is fairly expensive.

Because of the Freeview/TVNZ tie in however, features have been intentionally crippled and/or made intentionally unattractive. Ad skip has been intentionally removed, which is one of the whole points of paying for a PVR. Also, you have to paying $100+ extra for a simple access key is ludicrous, particuarly when the networking feature has been (as I understand it) intentionally crippled - can only share with machines on the same subnet mask and broadcasters can flag shows as non-transferrable etc. This means it is advertised with the capability (to make it attractive), but the capability is an unattractively priced crippled extra in practice. I also understand that broadcasters can flag shows as only being able to be stored for a certain period. Extra storage (the expander drive) is proprietary, clunky and overpriced - it's just an external drive after all.

The upshot is a product that is highly priced as a premium bit of kit. However, features have been removed that much cheaper boxes have (even if they lack some of the other ease of use refinements) which means that it isn't really really premium kit in many respects.

Market niches are that either pay a cheap price for a cheap box with limited features and functionality compared to the competition, or a premium price for a premium box with good features and functionality. Hybrid seems to be going for a strange third niche - a premium proce for a box with limited functionality. Mysteriously, this market segment seems very small.