Tivo in massive subscriber slump in US
mersey70
Posts: 5,049 Forum Member
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The Wall Street Journal reports Tivo lost a massive 223,000 customers in the last quarter leaving it with a total subscriber base of less than 2 million which is almost a quarter less than just one year ago.
I wonder why the American's are rejecting it, it isn't exactly confidence inspiring is it. VM must be worried!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559604576174873984989738.html
I wonder why the American's are rejecting it, it isn't exactly confidence inspiring is it. VM must be worried!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703559604576174873984989738.html
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So, in other words no... not worried at all
It's quite hard then to determine who have 'rejected' Tivo and who simply still use it despite their 'lifetime' subscription being considered 'expired' in the accounts.
You can sign an 800 year contract, if you go bust you go bust. Ask The Football league about their long term contract they signed with ITV Digital!
To lose almost a quarter of your customer base in a year is staggering, whatever the reason.
I really hope they are successful here and in the rest of Europe as it's clearly dropping like a lead balloon in the US, maybe the recession hasn't helped. It is quite expensive over there.
But sadly it's struggling in Australia too.
http://m.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/blogs/gadgets-on-the-go/tivo--dead-or-alive/20110208-1al3j.html
http://smarthouse.com.au/Home_Cinema/Set_Top_Boxes/W6P5H4J6
Is it not true what the op is saying then?
The Australian situation is unfortunate but TIVO made a deal with the wrong service and the failure had nothing to do with them. The Fetch TV story is basically saying Apples not interested in Oranges.
I think in this case it was a valid story to discuss given Virgin are investing a lot in the TiVo (they're planning to make it their default software for set-top boxes).
For the sake of balance you seem to be very brand loyal to TiVo and might you be a little sensitive to any negativity surrounding the product?
I think the figures are bassed on how many Tivo's still connect to there backend to request EPG data.
The number of active Tivo boxes dialing in has dropped by over 200'000. So it seems even people with a lifetime subscription have unplugged there boxes.
No matter how much you love Tivo the fact is hust has not taken off in the US despite being around for 10 years can't be a good thing.
You can say its so advanced the "average" consumer doesnt get it. Well thats tosh as the average consumer adopted Sky+/V+.
I think the problem is that what Tivo is depends on your service provider in the USA.
Neither satellite operator (Dish or DirectTV) offer Tivo. A standalone Tivo will record from the source - much like the first UK Tivo - but how many would choose that over a dual/triple tuner PVR like V+ HD and Sky+ HD?
Cable operators that don't offer the product directly will allow use of a cablecard allowing dual tuner capability, however interactivity and VOD are lost which is what many cable operators use as a driver of growth for their own product.
DirecTV have now renewed their partnership. Remember reading something about it.
BUT, you must remember it can be connected to an antenna kind of like Freeview here.
EDIT: http://www.tivo.com/products/source/index.html <<< Click Sattelite
And Cable isn't available everywhere. Like we can only get TimeWarnerCable and that's it. Go down two miles and they have Fios.
It maybe that the first Tivo's really did come to early and a standalone Tivo that required a second box connect to your cable/sky/freeview box was just to much hassle for many.
Tivo intergrated into VM boxes will force users to get to know Tivo and learn how it works. It could be that many decide they can't live without it after using it.
Lets see how the next 18 months go, who knows we could all be scrambling to get Tivo's in our homes.
I do wonder if it will force Sky to come up with something though.
I am not sure Tivo will force Sky to come up with anything but they will anyway, as always, content. That is what sells mass subscriptions and always has.
Sky's standard kit is probably more than sufficient for the average subscriber to Pay TV and as in the past i'm sure they will add features as they go along. News Corp's part owned NDS have their own very exciting snowflake middleware which might be used in years to come, I really am only guessing though but it's been very well received worldwide.
We should remember that only 1/4 of VM customers even have V+, after 5 years. I wonder if that is possibly because their OD service is so good, maybe 3/4 of people don't feel the need for a PVR at all, who knows. Maybe VM's Tivo will find itself in more non PVR's boxes.
We'll just have to wait and see I guess but as our American friend said earlier Tivo in the US is pretty platform neutral, to bomb like it has pretty much everywhere is curious if it is as good as we are told.
Or maybe it's too good, maybe people just don't require those features?
Dunno.
As opposed to the VM arse-licking that you do? Constantly.
Win Win for virgin/tivo user's IMO.
All I did was relay some reports, whch were true. 100% true whether you like it or not.
I am not a VM basher, I am also not constantly flag waving their services as brilliant either. I don't work for them or own stock I am merely a paying customer.
Look, if it's as good as you say then a bit a negative press, factual negative press should be water off a ducks back.
Seriously though Carl what it's called is SCRUTINY, if you are worried about that then perhaps there is a reason why but if we all just listened to you we would start believing it can make poached eggs.
Do you have any constructive comments on how this product has lost 21% of it's customer base in a year and getting on for 1/4 of a million in 3 months? In 12 years it only has around 2 million customers and falling. Before investing in it some of us would perhaps like to know why?
It is quite a lot of customers to lose for a product we supposedly cannot live without so whats the real story, you're the expert. I have an idea why but I very much welcome your comments.
Over to you.
Sky HD, despite much greater HD content, has similar penetration after a similar amount of time.
Sky+, after 5 years, had penetration of 20%.
As stated above Tivo, as will be launched by Virgin Media, differs massively from the Tivo product on offer in the United States - where the subscriber fluctuations are occurring.
Around 75% of VM customers have a V Box or V HD box.
They do not have a PVR (V+)
It differs from the third party boxes, that's for sure.
It dosent seem to differ that much in functionality from cable opertor suplied kit though.
It has a bigger HDD though, definitely.
I will tell you what my concern is, based on US and Australian articles and the collapse in subscribers. It simply offers too many features that average joe cares not a jot about and therefore will not pay for.
This sounds daft (and proof i'm not bashing it) but it sounds TOO good for joe bloggs, it just isn't needed and certainly not for a fee. I reckon most punters would just prefer extra channels but let's hope they arrive too.
That's just repeating what you said above. What I did was offer context.