Tivo to Swann - 'SHUT UP'

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have been getting occational emails from Phillip Swann who runs the site www.tvpredictions.com at first I thought his emails were for me to pass along to you the members here at DBSTalk.COM but now I think its just a mailing list.


Anyways Phillip last week broke the story that Tivo's lifetime rates were going up $50, because this the news spread to the mainstream media.

Seems like Tivo was not too happy with Mr Swann.

Heres a copy of his email from his list. Interesting reading.

Hello Again Everyone,

Can you imagine the White House telling a political analyst such as Chris Matthews that he must first contact the White House press office before commenting on the administration?

Of course not.

But that's what TiVo has asked me to do.

Brazen? Unheard of? Unbelievable? You bet. But it's true.

Last Friday, The San Jose Mercury News asked me to comment on TiVo's decision to raise its lifetime subscription fee for 'standalone' set-tops from $249 to $299. (TVPredictions.com broke the story about the increase on Friday morning.) I told Sam Diaz of the Mercury News that TiVo was putting more emphasis on its partnership with DIRECTV and other licensing opportunities. As evidence, I noted that TiVo and DIRECTV last November lowered the monthly sub fee for DIRECTV/TiVo boxes to $4.99. But now, TiVo was increasing the lifetime fee for non-DIRECTV/TiVo owners while keeping their monthly fee at $12.95.

That's a clear signal to the marketplace.

However, Rebecca Baer, the spokeswoman for TiVo, contacted me on Saturday morning to say my comments were "speculative at best and factually completely inaccurate."

Now, I welcome all input, including criticism. As you may recall, after I called for a new name for interactive television, I gave the Interactive Television Alliance a guest column to offer a rebuttal.

However, Ms. Baer's next comment was extraordinary. In my 20 years of being a journalist and analyst, I have never heard such a thing.

Here's what she said:

"And please refrain from commenting on our business without calling us first."

Well, I appreciate Ms. Baer's position. She would like to influence my analysis of her company. And that's fine. She is welcome to provide input anytime.

However, there are many ways to get information about TiVo to help me in my analysis. It's a big industry, Ms. Baer, and people talk. I don't necessairly have to get the official TiVo spin everytime I am asked to comment by a journalist. To suggest I do is naive and unrealistic. Not to mention, I believe those journalists would be a bit peeved if they thought I had to check in with TiVo before talking to them.

I will continue to offer analysis on TiVo -- both good and bad. As a TiVo owner, I think the DVR service is truly revolutionary. However, the company faces many challenges and I will continue to offer honest commentary regardless of the consequences.

Now, before we begin this issue, which includes an analysis on why Echostar may be talking to Rupert Murdoch, you can read the San Jose Mercury News article that triggered the "talk to me first" request from Ms. Baer.

To read the article,
go to:

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/5081936.htm

I should note that I myself had tried to contact Tivo, and they refered me to the Tivo Forum over at AVSforums.

[The Old Wizard]

I Think Tivo seems to be a bit sensitive about this increase. Now I own both a DirecTiVo & a stand alone one & truly believe they are the best PVRs available at this time.

Now on the other hand Tivo the company is a whole different matter. When it comes to their business sense, that is another story. An example is the insane decision last year, to have an exclusive sales agreement with Best Buy for the initial release to the Tivo Series 2 stand alone. That one blew up in their face & cost them quite a bit in sales. It sometimes appears that Tivo Inc. is it's own worst enemy. In this case I wonder if this employee took it upon themselves to e-mail Swann, or if it was an official company sanctioned e-mail. Either way it did more harm than good for Tivo's image. :blackeye:

[lee635]

Thanks for the great insight Scott.

But isn't this just anecdotal evidence of how reporting on corporations has changed. The accepted norm is that before you publish anything about a corporation that you "get their side". And as was pointed out above, that contact might color or change the writer's opinion. If nothing else, it gives the corporate marketeers an early warning so they quickly put out their spin.

I applaud the unvarnished opinion. It's so hard to find these days with everyone trying to spin their story for a sensational edge.

Please speak up Mr. Swann, we're all listening over here. In fact you had better shout it out or we won't be able to hear you over the chorus corporate marketeers with their clever gimmicky little quips and quotes. :evilgrin:

Thanks again to Scott for pointing this out. ;)

[tampa8]

Could the spokesperson have meant why not call us first to see if your information is correct? Sure they would like to give a spin on it, but sometimes information is just plain wrong. Why not at least call and get an answer from the horse's mouth? To be honest, if he didn't call Tivo to at least get their take on it, I think he was wrong.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have found out things about Tivo in the past and have called Tivo to seek comment and they told me to check out the Tivo community on the Internet.

Tivo is NOT the only company like this, there are many companies I have tried to contact with no avail.

I know Echostar does not like replying at times when I have questions. I have sort of figured out now that if they don't answer that the information I have is correct. :)