TiVo spikes on rumors of deal with Apple on new Apple TV

42 Comments

Apple StoreEric Savitz notes for Barron’s that “TiVo shares have spiked on rumors [via Briefing.com and TheFlyOnTheWall.com] that the company’s technology could be included in the next generation Apple (AAPL) TV box.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jersey_Trader” for the heads up.]

Related articles:
RUMOR: Next-gen Apple TV will stream TV shows for 99-cents – July 09, 2010
RUMOR: Apple prepping inexpensive cloud-based Apple TV for war with Google – June 01, 2010
RUMOR: Apple TV 4 to run iPhone OS 4 on Apple A4 CPU, offer cloud storage, start at $99 – May 28, 2010
Apple releases Apple TV Software Update 3.0.2 – February 11, 2010
Apple TV 3.0 vs Mac mini vs game consoles – February 04, 2010
Santa gave us another Apple TV for Christmas and I couldn’t be happier – December 28, 2009

42 Comments

  2. I don’t think it’ll happen.

    Apple is ONLY interested in making it easy to enjoy content they sell.

    Notice the lack of a DVD drive in AppleTV. Why? Because Apple doesn’t sell DVD’s, it sells the streaming equivalent, which doesn’t require a drive. Likewise, with no radio tuners in iPods. Why? because Apple can’t profit from the content.

    Now I’ll admit that it might be possible for Apple to construct a new method of delivery of live content over IP, to join the ranks of broadcast, cable, and satellite, but I don’t see that any of that would require TiVo technology.

    Reply

  3. I can’t see it. TiVo is about recording broadcast media. Why would Apple want to use up their data farm real estate having people store broadcast media on it for viewing later? First of all, you would use up space with myriad copies of the same broadcasts – this wastes data warehouse space and bandwidth (first, recording up to the cloud thousands of copies of the same show; then streaming it back). Why not have a single copy of the show and stream it to millions of subscribers? I think that will be the eventual model. The problem is the elephant in the road, namely the broadcast revenue players (ad supported content owners, and cable companies who would rather keep double and triple billing clients for the content pipe – TV broadcast, plus wired and wireless Internet).

    It is possible that Apple could enter the TV content ecosystem in a much greater way than the current iTunes pay per show model by offering TiVo in the short term – until the content owners become more open to change. However, this is not the kind of strategy that Mr. Jobs follows, namely adopting an old tech paradigm. He likes to lead the market into new delivery paradigms. Also, such a TiVo play would not really give Apple any new leverage to coax the content owners along into the future we, the consumers, desire – any content, any time we want, on any device we want.

    Reply

  5. Further thought – the only benefit of an AppleTV / TiVo play would be to get the AppleTV box into many more homes (as many people currently desire this feature as useful in the present), then switch them to a cloud-based subscription model of streamed content, once all the pieces are in place.

    Reply

  8. As a devoted TiVo fan, I’ve always said that TiVo plays the part of the Mac to the cable companies ‘PC’ DVRs. Yes, they perform the same function, perhaps there is a bit of a (perceived) price premium, but TiVo is just more useable, more enjoyable, just better. And you really have to have owned and used one to grasp this.

    The parallels between the questions people ask me — “So why don’t you just get a box from the cable company?” — and the ones I used to answer about owning a mac 7 or 8 years ago are extensive.

    When TiVo was really on hard times a few years ago (maybe this hasn’t changed), I hoped Apple would write a check and just buy the company.

    This is one rumor I really, really hope has some meat to it. I wonder if the associations with amazon and netflix that TiVo has already established will get in the way.

    MDN MW – “course” — ‘Of course! This just makes sense!’

    Reply

  10. Last February, TiVo came out with an irresistible offer of a lifetime subscription for (certain) owners of TiVo Series 3 boxes. It was a $99 lump sum or so vs. the 12.95 monthly charge that prevailed. At the time, I calculated that I would break even as of October. So it was an easy choice. However, it was SO attractive that I wondered if there was something happening–cash flow problems, merger, etc.–that would explain why this almost too good to be true offer was made. Maybe this is it. Note that TiVo’s lifetime subscriptions are for the particular box you own–not for future purchases and not transferable AFAIK.

    For geeks, there are lots of options that may be more attractive then TiVo, but in the realm of mainstream TV consumption/time shifting/Video on Demand, TiVo “just works” and is silly simple for everyone. In the last couple of years, TiVo has added an attractive mix of Video on Demand options including Netflix, YouTube, webcasts Blockbuster and even Amazon VoD. And it’s all easy to figure out. I have always thought that if Apple were to get serious about TV, then the acquisition of TiVo technology would be wonderful for all involved–consumers, content providers, and shareholders.

    Reply

  15. Everything I ever bought on iTunes I could have recorded off my cable if the technology was easier to use.

    I’ve often wondered why Apple didn’t buy TIVO just to threaten the networks to offer online/on-demand tv shows at a better rate on iTunes. In other words, if you won’t sell shows to iTunes users, we’ll make it so easy to record them it won’t matter.

    Reply

Reader Feedback

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.