DirecTV delt a big blow to TiVo by announcing that they are going to use DVR boxes from NDS, starting in 2005 (both NDS and DirecTV are owned by News Corp.). This pretty much explains why DirecTV hasn't updated their TiVo boxes to use Series 2 features (despite having the proper hardware), and perhaps explains why their HD TiVo option is overpriced and un-enticing.
I'm disappointed in the move because it demonstrates how anti-competitive the TV market is. Cable broadcasters have kept TiVo out of the digital cable market, which requires proprietary decoders, and instead have released their own branded decoders, and now both the DirecTV and Dish offerings will be no better.
To me this is akin to having to purchase a VCR from your cable company. I would like to stay with analog cable forever, but it probably isn't long before Comcast eliminates this offering entirely.
Comments (2)
As I have now worked in the TV Reporting business for three years I can tell you that Analog is in its final spasms. In the last year alone the amount that Comcast (also the only strong provider in this area) has cut from analog offerings and made digital only is staggering. The fact that among all the premium cable networks only HBO 1, Max 1 and Sho 1 are available to analog subscribers is telling enough without noting that in many areas major non-premium stations like TCM, Hallmark and OLN have made the jump to digital only. Its all been happening very quietly, but this next batch is gonna have to involve some major stations along the lines of Food, VH-1 or Spike, and then we will see some outrage. The funny thing is that since there is no competing traditional cable company the only alternatives are gonna be Dish systems, and their hierarchical pricing systems don't make them any better.
Bah. The business has no real good guys.
Next time your provider does something shitty to you, just thank God or whatever that you don't have to deal with them professionally.
Posted by Justin | August 3, 2004 7:45 AM
Posted on August 3, 2004 07:45
They can pry my OLN out of my cold dead hands...
BTW: HBO, Showtime, etc... are all digital-only out here.
Posted by kwc
|
August 3, 2004 8:41 AM
Posted on August 3, 2004 08:41