TVSquad

While TiVo may have revolutionized television, and even coined a new word as the word TiVo has become synonymous with the digital video recording technology it pioneered. But a company based on a single technology, revolutionary though it may be, can struggle. And since its inception in 1999, TiVo has operated in the red. With other companies undercutting TiVo in the DVR market, the company lashed out at everyone and anyone for infringing on their intellectual ideas.

This New York Times article details that on November 29, the Patent and Trademark Office recognized TiVo's patent on the technology allowing viewers to watch one show while recording another. Couple that with a smaller quarterly loss than anticipated and the company sees a bright future.

Marketwatch snagged short interview with TiVo CEO Tom Rogers. Not surprisingly, most of the interview concerns the recently launched TiVo HD. But there are a few other juicy tidbits.



A few takeaway points:

• Rogers acknowledges that TiVo's lack of an HD box with a consumer-friendly price tag was hurting the company's subscription numbers.
• Rogers says Comcast customers will be able to get TiVo software on their existing set top boxes starting "quite soon."

[via Troy on TiVo]

Ever wonder what makes the guy behind TiVo tick? If not, you can probably skip the rest of this post, but the Lower Hudson Journal Times has a detailed profile of TiVo CEO Tom Rogers. If that sounds like a New York area paper to you, you're right. Rogers flies from his home in Harrison, NY to TiVo HQ in Alviso, CA every Monday morning, and makes the return trip on Thursday evenings.

I used to have a 90 minute commute each way to work, and that was hard enough. Rogers spends six hours in the air twice a week. While that's technically fewer hours in transit, he gets to spend less time in his own bed.

Anyway, there's not really any news in the profile. TiVo used to be an advertiser's worst nightmare, now the company's working with them. TiVo faces competition from generic PVRs, but Comcast will be rolling out generic boxes with TiVo software later this year. And so on.

But it's an interesting read if you're interested in Rogers' background and what drives a person to spend four days a week away from home. Here's a hint: if TiVo can afford to fly Rogers across the country twice a week, you can imagine that he's pulling in a decent salary.

So Gizmodo's fanning the flames of the rumor mill by reporting that TiVo's could be prepping a $300 high definition personal video recorder. Sure, the Series3 HD TiVo launched at $800, but now TiVo's offered it at promotional prices as low as $499. Is it too much of a stretch to think the company can offer a stripped down model for $300?

Maybe. Here's the thing. While TiVo CEO Tom Rogers did say back in March that the company is looking into a lower-cost PVR, I'm just not sure we can expect them to release a device anytime soon that's going to dramatically undercut the sales of the their existing box. Because if you could pay $300 or $800 for boxes that do almost the same thing, which would you choose?