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The Wall Street Journal wrote:
TiVo Loss Widens; Customers Defect
By NATHAN BECKER
TiVo Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter loss widened, as the digital-video recording company continued to lose subscribers and its revenue fell.
TiVo has seen lower customer-addition numbers and a higher defection rate. In the most-recent quarter, the company lost 125,000 subscribers, compared with the 146,000 it lost a year earlier. Its total customer base is 22% smaller than it was a year earlier and stands at 2.4 million.
Subscriber-acquisition costs fell 27%. Monthly churn, or the cancellation rate, was 1.9% for TiVo-owned subscribers, up from 1.5% a year earlier http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...#printMode
I wish them well in their uphill battle against the deep pockets of EchoStar.
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are people defecting by dropping cable service altogether?
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There is no TiVo on DirecTV anymore, so as people upgrade to HD they turn off their SD DirecTV TiVo.
On the cable side as they upgrade to HDTV they can spend $299 for the TiVo and a monthly fee or $299 lifetime ($598 total) for a pretty good HD TiVo that doesn't do PPV or VOD - or they can get the cable companies 'good enough' box for $10/month that does do VOD.
They have never made any money, and now Cable and Satellite have "good enough" DVRs. DirecTVs are actually getting more features while TiVo stagnates.
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I see where the sentiment is coming from; if you get DirecTV or Dish, one usually gets the company-branded DVR. Cable's kind of the same, insofar as those who are moving to HD or digital cable; the company-branded DVR is the easiest route.
Not knocking TiVO at all; they revolutionized the foray into DVR as we exited the tape era. It's just that the mainline providers started rolling their own, and it was that ease of integration that makes most just go with what The Company offers. (I still know a few long-time DirecTV subscribers who really miss the TiVO Tuner days.)
{ADDED} Second what ADent said, above.
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are people defecting by dropping cable service
That's my case. I still have my TiVoSeies II with lifetime service but, I dropped everything Cablevision over two years ago. Back then, the only live TV I watched was news. Everything else was TiVo.
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I've got two DirecTiVos under the old grandfathered lifetime plan from DirecTV (and back in the day, a dual-tuner DVR was cutting edge). But, like many threads here indicate, I'm looking to reduce my television cost through high speed internet streaming or the next AppleTV or whatever. TiVo's claim to fame of late seems to have been "we're better, so we're worth more" at a time when people are trying to reduce what they pay to the cable/satellite providers, not increase it. Thus, the "good enough" DVRs are winning out. Somebody will end up buying TiVo for their patents and technology and turn it into an Internet-connected content receiver (maybe).
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I've always wanted to see/try a TiVO device.
Seems like a neat technology that should replace VCRs.
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John B. wrote:
I've got two DirecTiVos under the old grandfathered lifetime plan from DirecTV (and back in the day, a dual-tuner DVR was cutting edge). But, like many threads here indicate, I'm looking to reduce my television cost through high speed internet streaming or the next AppleTV or whatever. TiVo's claim to fame of late seems to have been "we're better, so we're worth more" at a time when people are trying to reduce what they pay to the cable/satellite providers, not increase it. Thus, the "good enough" DVRs are winning out. Somebody will end up buying TiVo for their patents and technology and turn it into an Internet-connected content receiver (maybe).
Same circumstances here. 2 years ago dropped DirecTV and replaced it with a TivoHD connected to an antenna. The second TV got an AppleTV. Saving a few hundred dollars a year compared to DirecTV.
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Zoidberg wrote: Not knocking TiVO at all; they revolutionized the foray into DVR as we exited the tape era.
Not exactly. ReplayTV led the revolution with arguably better technology than TiVo. TiVo survived longer because they didn't get sued out of existence. It's unfortunate, because both Replay and TiVo are/were much better than the pieces o' crap that the cable companies try to foist on us. We're going to end up with crap technology because the cable companies want to protect their revenue streams.
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As a long time Tivo user, it is clear TiVo is stagnating. Their premiere is quite the let down coming 3-4 years after the Series 3.
While we have & love our Tivo HD, I recently had my Mom get a Charter issued Scientific Atlanta DVR. What a mess of a UI & remote that box is. I'm really tempted to just get my Mom a TiVo, though at $500+, it is a bit tough to swallow.
The company will get bought out for its patents, just like HP bought out Palm. It'll be interesting to see who picks up the pieces, and hopefully they continue to offer the service for us 'lifetime' customers.
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