Back in 2002, TiVo launched in the UK. It didn’t do too well, and the company pulled out of the UK market, but continued to support those customers who had bought their product… Until now. Nine years later, those original UK TiVo customers are up in arms about the fact that TiVo are planning to stop supporting the backend, essentially turning their boxes into paperweights. Given the current financial problems TiVo Australia seems to find itself in, could this be a sign of things to come?
There was a small PR fire last week when it became apparent that TiVo had cut its local staff to just five people following some poor sales. Some media outlets reported that their internal PR member was part of the job cuts, which meant that the company eventually resorted to their Facebook page and Twitter to deny they were shutting down.
While nothing has changed since last week, the UK chain of events is worth taking note of. TiVo makes itself stand out as a DVR thanks to the software backend and their EPG, which is actually put together themselves. In the UK, TiVo now has a new partnership with Virgin to sell their hardware/software package tied to Virgin’s cable TV network, which can really be seen as the impetus to stop supporting their old hardware.
Locally, the fact that TiVo is on a skeleton staff doesn’t change the fact that they are still supported by Channel 7, and it until that changes, it’s probably safe to say that even if Hybrid TV ceases to exist and stops selling TiVo hardware, Seven will continue to support the software backend for a period of time.
So Aussie TiVo users are safe for now. But if Seven decide to give up their involvement with TiVo in Australia… Then who knows what may happen…
Ben Evans
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 1:06 PMI never saw the point of Tivo in Australia. If you have foxtel then you get IQ. If you have freeview you get a cheap set top box with PVR from Dick Smiths.
Daniel
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 2:09 PMEveryone says that until they actually own a Tivo, and then they get it.
Janet
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 8:52 PMCouldn’t agree more. My 2 daughters have had tivo for about 2 years and kept trying to talk me into getting it too. I decided to take their advise and I now have tivo. I don’t know how I lived without it, its the best invention ever….I just love it. And yes you can get foxtel iq but your paying for that every month, tivo is a one of purchase (well worth the money) We had foxtel but got it cut off as there are lots of free to air stations now and with tivo its just the best..
Cam
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 2:25 PMTwo family members have two separate PVR’s, one a dual-tuner LG, the other a Tivo. Despite the season-pass being an obvious bonus for the Tivo over the LG, the useability of the Tivo leaves the LG for dead. Apart from the little things that the Tivo has over the LG (rewind 3 seconds after fast forwarding for example), the overall experience is comparable to using android/iphone/winmo7 or a nokia running symbian. Even comparing the Tivo to PlayTV from PS3, the Tivo has more/better features than its newer counterpart.
I hope Seven keeps supporting Tivo in Australia, it would be a shame for a good product and service to be killed off by $100 chinese products.
Sandra
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 2:32 PMi love my TIVO – ever since we bought it a few years ago it is so easy to use
Tim
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 3:26 PMI bought one just before Christmas, they are awesome. Previously I had the low end LG recorder, that was a nightmare.
I particularly like being able to set a program to record from my phone or from anywhere else online.
Everyone buy Tivos!
Dan Miller
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 3:21 PMTivo is a good product. It’s just a shame the company that brought it to Australia where useless and had no clue. I blame the price and the bad VOD CASPA serves on it’s failure.
glennc
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 5:27 PMcrazy pricing compared to equiv topfield etc. on the market.
Trent
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 11:38 PMPeople say TiVo is expensive, but it can be found for about $450 bucks, if not a little less. Find me a Topfield for that price that doesn’t suck
Greg
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 5:00 PMHardly surprising given free to air TV in Australia is a complete waste of broadcast spectrum.
Gareth
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 5:14 PMI was looking forward to getting one when I got the cash together, but now this news makes me rethink the decision. Disappointing really…
luke
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 5:35 PMTivos are awesome, and I tried really hard to get others on board but they didn’t jump in. Shame really when they don’t know what their missing. If they go that way here in Australia, I hope they make there product open source and maybe some clever folks or dedicated Tivo users can help the programming out.
Rick
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 5:48 PMIt’s all about the EPG. Tivo has a good well supported free EPG (at the moment). Freeview and free to air EPG’s are unreliable. ICETV is the only other EPG that rivals TIVO’s, but it costs!
darren Sadler
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 9:30 PMi love tivo so much were looking at getting one for the other tv because the kids have taken over , if your thinking about getting one , do it .
solotrek
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 9:58 PMYou know, even if Tivo leaves, what are you missing?
Updated EPG, Movies on demand.
I can live without the movies on demand,(but I’m not sure that this wouldn’t be replaced by some other company) and surely the EPG could be provided by another company like ICE TV? I think the season passes are run from the Tivo itself based on the guide, all recordings would occur as usual. So where are we seeing that Tivo users are going to be dumped with boxes that don’t work any more? I think its just that no body has really looked into this and Tivo aren’t looking to provide an easy out for old users if they can get you to buy another box. Just saying.
Gradenko
Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 1:34 AMI never thought Tivo was worth it to a Beyonwiz. I like the ability to pull recordings off the box and be able to play mkv/xvid over network shares. Setting recordings over the web or iphone app with icetv is pretty handy too.
doggone
Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 1:46 PMhorses for courses! tivo=noobs, others like topfield/beyoniz=power users! different target audience, tivo is for non techheads, you really can’t compare the two, besides tivo is more expensive because of the epg support
Sleek881
Friday, February 18, 2011 at 6:04 AMWhat are you talking about Beyonwiz/Topfield cost more than a Tivo and the you have to pay ongoing cost of IceTV supscription. Wake up!
LJ
Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 11:50 PMNothing compares to the ease of use of the TiVo. So simple. So smart. I’ve tried others and I it’s apparent that they might make good hardware, but lack any competence in making software.
jahn
Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 7:49 PMI loved our Tivo too, until they stopped providing epg information for channel 9, go and gem regional stations a few months back. Makes the box virtually useless for to country users. Tech support has acknowledged the issue but can not provide a solution despite the number of users affected. Unfortunately it really looks like the end of the line for Tivo in oz :(