TiVo upgrades TV's baby-sitter functionality
TiVo upgrades TV's baby-sitter functionality
The official announcement hasn't yet happened (an 11 a.m ET press event is scheduled at New York's Museum of TV and Radio), but TiVo stole its own thunder by leaking to the Times. It's just as well, though; the KidZone feature may be welcome by parents, but it's utterly underwhelming to TiVo fans who have been waiting anxiously for the company to upgrade its aging Series2 line. You could sense the anticipation when word of the announcement hit the Web yesterday ("TiVo is hosting a press conference to discuss important new developments"). The company will be giving away its boxes and moving to a subscription-only model! The Series 3 HD TiVo is going to be officially announced! You can download any movie you want from Netflix on your TiVo! Alas, just hours later, the KidZone rumor was already being floated (gearlive.com scooped the Gray Lady by a good several hours, as near as I can tell), and the disappointment among TiVo-ans was as palpable as it was for Apple fans earlier this week.
CEO Tom Rodgers has already confirmed that Comcast customers should be able to seamlessly upgrade their existing DVRs to TiVo-ized versions by the end of the year. More details on TiVo's 2006 plans may be forthcoming next week, when the company conducts its quarterly earnings conference call. I certainly hope so--because that single-tuner, analog-only Series2 box is really beginning to show its age.
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