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I assumed that it was a license fee paid to Tivo from DirecTV.


TiVo only gets $1.30 for the DirecTV subs. The majority of TiVo's new customers come from DirecTV but TiVo makes 90% of their revenue from standalone subs.

Now the new Murdoch controlled DirecTV is putting out press releases touting their upcoming "TiVo like" (their words) DVR being produced by another Murdoch owned company. It's based on a product available in England (BSky or something like that. I'm too lazy to look it up).

Things ain't looking good for TiVo. They're getting dropped by their one satellite/cable partner and they aren't expanding their standalone subs fast enough. Most people who even know what a DVR is would define it as a tapeless VCR. In that context, what's the difference between a TiVo and the DVR offerred with your digital cable service? It's a tough sell to get someone to shell out $200 for a box when they can get what they think is the same thing for free with a similar monthly fee (and no tricky new cabling).

Despite the near universal love from the customers, their brand being synonomous with the product segment, and penetration into popular culture ("I TiVo'ed it"), the company is dangerously close to failing. Their marketing was embarrasing and utterly ineffective. I think TiVo will be a future business school case study in bad marketing.