HDTV information resource - HD TV plasma television

March 8, 2007

After releasing TiVo’s fourth quarter report yesterday, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said that the company hopes to soon offer a lower-priced HD DVR: “We will be highly focused this year on moving forward with a lower-priced, mass appeal high-def unit, which will allow us to much better participate in the HD television trend.”

The TiVo Series 3 HD DVR currently carries a suggested retail price of $799, although some retailers are selling it for around $625, which is still pretty steep.  especially considering that high-def owners can lease HD recorders from their cable or satellite providers for $10 a month or less.

“The other clear learning at retail is that High-Definition television sets are the most important new consumer electronics item. Given the price of our HD unit, we were not able to meaningfully participate in that trend. This also clearly contributed to lower sales volume compared to a year ago, when this trend was nowhere near as significant,” said Rogers, acknowledging that TiVo’s HD DVR price hurt the company’s chances of generating more subscribers from the ever-growing HD audience.

 
Rogers did not reveal what price TiVo may stamp on a future HD DVR, but he suggested that a price drop is crucial to future sub growth: “We had a very high price unit there and so our HD product performed at expectations, which were modest given its price,” he said.

TiVo reported yesterday that its net losses had declined ($18.7 million in the fourth quarter compared to $21.1 million in the previous 4Q) but said subscriptions increased just 0.2 percent over the third quarter.

October 5, 2006

Satcaster EchoStar has won a temporary reprieve that would have forced it to shut down service. A Texas court judge last August issued an injunction against EchoStar, saying it would have to shut down all DVR (digital video recording) service (including high-def recorders) in 30 days. The injunction followed a Texas jury’s verdict that EchoStar had violated TiVo’s DVR patents. The jury also found EchoStar liable for approximately $90 million in damages. Ouch. On Tuesday, however, an appellate court granted EchoStar’s request for a stay on the injunction, which means that EchoStar can continue to offer DVR service while appealing the Texas ruling. After Tuesday’s ruling, shares of TiVo fell nearly seven percent.

TiVo has alleged that EchoStar violated its “time warp” patent, which allows recording one show while watching another. In response, EchoStar says it believes it will win the case on appeal. EchoStar said in a statement, “This action by the Federal Court reinforces our belief that the Texas court made significant errors during the trial process and we look forward to complete vindication of our position.” TiVo commented, “We are confident that the jury’s decision in TiVo’s favor will be upheld once the Federal Circuit has the opportunity to review the entire record in this case.”

If forced to discontinue the DVR, EchoStar could lose millions of DVR subscribers, some of whom could jump to rival TV services. TiVo, on the other hand, hopes to use the EchoStar verdict as leverage to force other TV providers to license its software and/or offer its service to subscribers.

September 13, 2006