It's not that TiVo is hemmoraging cash, per se, but that they're blowing a huge amount of what would otherwise be profits on incentives. The clear intent is to drum up as many new subscribers as possible, and bank on the monthly service fees.

As a case study, I offer up my father. I tried to sell him on a TiVo. He wasn't interested, despite the fact that neither he nor my mom could really wrap their brains around the necessary effort to get their Dish receiver and VCR to work together. I suggested that Dad investigate the DIsh-brand PVR. They sent it to him for *free*, with I believe a $5 monthly fee, although he was complaining that it doesn't support dual tuner. Nonetheless, he and mom apparently love the thing.

It's hard to compete with free.

(Caveat: I hold a bunch of TiVo stock. I first bought a year ago at $7.50, was smugly satisfied as it went up to $12, then watched it descent downward. I bought again at $4.89, figuring it had to go up. It's not been a pretty ride, but I'm still long on the stock. I may sell before year's end to get the tax writeoff.)