Search giants court TiVo

(continued from previous page)

Google Video, the company's latest experimental work to archive closed captioning of broadcast television shows and make their content searchable. The beta project launched earlier this year, but it has yet to allow people to watch video clips.

Yahoo this year also launched a searchable video archive.

Both search giants have for now focused on PCs and the Web, but ultimately, industry observers believe, their plans will involve porting Web video clips to the television, which generally offers viewers a better video experience.

Google and Yahoo are in such fierce competition that neither wants to let the other land a deal with TiVo that might provide an edge. That could strengthen TiVo's hand at the negotiating table, one source said.

Though details have yet to be worked out, a number of possibilities have been put on the table, sources familiar with the talks said.

For example, a TiVo deal might allow Google or Yahoo users to find video files on the Web and then watch them on their televisions. Web surfers might provide some personal information, including their TiVo serial box number, in order to download video directly to their TiVo box. A credit card number might also be required, if the video had an associated fee. TiVo would collect a share of the fees from either customer payment or from advertising-supported video.

Such a Yahoo or Google deal would be attractive to TiVo because it would promote TiVo's service among a broad audience, potentially selling more set-top boxes that are broadband-enabled. Right now, the company has an estimated 300,000 customers using its broadband-connected boxes, versus close to 3 million using a dialup connection that wouldn't allow for a Web to television service.

"A big user interface extension"
Mike Homer, a former TiVo board member who still serves as a consultant for the company, said he did not have specific knowledge of a pending deal with Google or Yahoo. Nevertheless, he said a collaboration between TiVo and a Web search engine in that class would be a win for both.

"You can think of this as a big user interface extension," he said. "It makes a lot of sense, and you could almost claim that it is totally necessary...it's a no-brainer."

To be sure, there will be many issues to iron out before successfully transferring Web video to the television. TiVo will likely have to expand its storage capabilities. The quality of Web video must improve for television viewing. And bandwidth capabilities in homes must expand, among other considerations.

More problematic, however, are copyright issues that need to be ironed out with broadcasters and content producers, as well as the inevitable pushback from television networks and cable companies. Cable companies, for example, are reluctant to abandon control of their distribution channel to consumers by allowing in millions of new feeds of content.

Any new Web-based video service TiVo develops will also face some stiff competition. Companies such as Akimbo, Brightcove.com and iFilm.com want to help give independent videos new distribution onto the television. Akimbo, whose set-top box lets people watch thousands of shows from the Internet on their television set, hopes to eventually partner with

[Earl Benser]

TiVo is still looking...

.. for some way to survive it's own stupidity. The world needs a
new DVR design to put TiVo out of it's misery.

Putting TiVo out of its misery...

is apparently harder than one might think. TiVo has been the top selling DVR forever. Action Replay went broke but are still limping along. Comcast and the other cable giants push their own DVRs but only a few are as user friendly as TiVo. TiVo is on the right track, they are securing their intellectual properties and patents, they are working deals with Comcast, and doing away with their rebate system.

Some things they need to address:
Dual tuners
Inexpensive HD content

Maybe this partnering with Search Giants is the next step in the Tivolution?

[Shawn Lane]

Good Idea

I think this sounds like a good idea. The problem will be with the cable and tv operators. They are not going to want this to occur. There is nothing in it for them. Plus advertising dollars will be lost unless there is a way to advertise either during or before the broadcast. I hope it happens, but I think it take some time for it to happen.

[montgomeryburns]

Fire Molly Wood

Fire Molly Wood.

Getting TiVo out of the box

These talks could be very strategic, as a major step toward creating a new service category and cementing TiVo's place in the media world. This is described in my blog entry A New "Blue Ocean Strategy" for TiVo and related posts.

Tivo as a DVR box is little more than a commodity, but TiVo as "TV your way" and as "an easy way to find and control content from any broadcast or broadband source" is an important new "media concierge" service.

The power is in getting out of the box, and in serving the user as a media broker -- not being overly wedded to any content source or any media gateway box. (Google may be more tuned to being content source agnostic, and not pushing its own content, but Yahoo could do that as well.) A TiVo concierge service could favor Tivo boxes and its portal's own content, but fails the user if it does not also address all content and all boxes.

[rajat81]

Why TiVo needs Google ?

Well i dont think why TiVo will marry google. More thoughts are here...

https://rajatgupta.wordpress.com/2006/05/26/why-tivo-needs-google/