Quote:
... I don't see any reason that Tivo (or other companies) wouldn't be allowed to make their own branded DirecTV receivers with Tivo built in. DirecTV receivers are already made by quite a few different companies, I don't see what'd make them stop or why they couldn't add Tivo to it. ...


Actually, DirecTV boxes aren't being made by other companies or brands anymore. There are a scattered few left for sale out in the wild, but all boxes being manufactured now carry just the "DirecTV" brand. (The one notable exception to this is the HD TiVo, which has the Hughes brand, but it got that before DirecTV cut off the other companies, and Hughes is/was for all intents and purposes a DirecTV brand anyway. Any new manufacturing run would carry the DirecTV brand.)

The rational behind this was to provide a unified experience for customers with a single UI for every box and to reduce support costs.
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-Aaron