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TiVo adds features in relaunch

Catch-up TV, pizzas, movies and games. All coming to a TiVo box in its renewed sales push.

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TiVo plans to add a catch-up TV service next year for Channel Seven shows with hopes to add other free-to-air networks.

“Our goal for next year is absolutely TV via broadband,” Ms Minicola said. “Catch-up TV is a critical thing.”

Seven is repositioning TiVo as a media centre rather than just a digital video recorder, and yesterday launched new services including a daily horoscope, free movie downloads, a photo-sharing service, and a series of games, including Sudoku.

It is also adding Nova and Vega radio and done a deal with Domino’s to enable people to order pizzas through their set-top box.

But TiVo boss Robbee Minicola has defended sales while she won’t reveal how many have been sold.

She says more than 4000 TiVo sets were sold in just the first month and it’s been a “fantastic success”.

Seven Media Group, which owns TiVo’s licensee Hybrid Television Services, has also refused to give an official number for sales, but a spokesman says the current number is about 20,000.

Source: The Australian, The Age

15 Responses

  3. I’m still on dialup. Unless Seven want to pay me $100 a month for some decent broadband, I don’t think so.

    Blame Telstra, they own the phone lines and infrastructure in Australia. If the government wasn’t so quick for a buc and didn’t privatise most of Telstra, maybe they would still have some controll about the ballooning fees and dwindling service.

  4. I don’t get the “make it cheaper” argument.

    I’ve been looking for a HD tuner/PVR for this Christmas and TiVo seems of decent value. (The HDD size obviously being the biggest stumbling block.)

    My quick search at retaillers sees a PVR with 2 high-def tuners starts at $800-ish. And they don’t have the UI and software features of TiVo. To comparitively compare software, you’d look at IceTV. Their PVRs start at $900.

    So what’s so wrong with TiVo?

  5. I have a Tivo and welcome any add-on services from which I can pick and choose (no-one is forcing me to use them). The HDD may not be big enough for some – but how much TV do you want to keep/watch?

  9. “Now all they need to do is wait for the sort of “broadband” most people in this country have to “catch up” to the rest of the world in terms of both speed and especially ridiculous download limits.”

    It’s ridiculous isn’t it? We must have the worst internet services in the world. You think a developed and rich country like Australia would catch up to the times and make it seem like we’re actually in 2008.

  10. i will buy one when
    – atleast one more network joins in
    – there is a bigger (or atleast expanable) harddrive
    – it gets cheaper
    – it has a DVD/Bluray slot for watching/copying

    although arodering pizza from tv would be quite cool, even if you never used it, it would be something to show ur friends

    my pvr is good for now

  11. I have a Strong Set Top box that does most of it…and there are no ongoing internet costs…Tivo…I don’t think so

    My 116cm LCD and HD Set top box with 200gig Hdd thats the way to go

  14. Just 20,000? How many people have the Foxtel box or other services?

    With all the added features will they up the size of the HDD, last I checked it can only record 20 hours in HD and no way to burn off the content to DVD, BruRay or an external HDD.

  15. Now all they need to do is wait for the sort of “broadband” most people in this country have to “catch up” to the rest of the world in terms of both speed and especially ridiculous download limits.

    Bet Joe and Jane Average won’t be too impressed after watching a few shows on “Catch Up TV”, downloading a few “free” movies and then a few weeks later getting a $500 internet bill…

    Meanwhile, “TiVo boss Robbee Minicola has defended sales while she won’t reveal how many have been sold” and “TiVo’s licensee Hybrid Television Services has also refused to give an official number for sales.” That really says it all.

    It’s a hard sell, marketing a PVR that *requires* a broadband internet connection to work at all. My own parents, for example, would already have a Tivo but for that little stumbling block.

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