Tivo CEO: Price a Barrier to DVR Growth

[John Corn]

By Franklin Paul NEW YORK (Reuters) - Growth of Tivo (news - web sites) Inc.'s television recording service is on track, and lower prices could arrive by the holiday season, spurring consumers to take a second look at the technology, Chief Executive Michael Ramsay said on Thursday.

"The biggest swing factor right now is price," Ramsay told Reuters in an interview here. "When we get the price down it will make a big difference to the volume (of sales)."

Digital video recorders (DVR) are set-top boxes armed with a computer hard drive that allow users to saves massive amounts of programming, instantly replay scenes viewed on live television, and watch recorded shows while others are saved.

Tivo, which boasts more than 650,000 users, stands second in the DVR market to EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network.

Rest of the Story (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030403/media_nm/tech_tivo_ceo_dc_1)

[Jacob S]

I would have to agree, the price needs to come down, and some consumers do wait until it gets down to a certain pricepoint before buying the product. It is just like the HDTV's and flat screen plasma tv's, people do not want to buy it when it first comes out but wait until the price comes down so they end up not being the pioneers paying the highest price for the product.

[TerryC]

The one time cost of getting the box is one thing. What scared me off of getting a stand-alone is the $13 monthly cost for the service. And that's per receiver! It's twenty-six for a second, and so on. Ridiculous.

[Jacob S]

Same here. It is the combination of prices. Having to pay $13 a month makes having to pay that much for the box in the first place a bit pricier. Even if you paid the lifetime fee that is a bit expensive especially since it is not transferrable to another Tivo in the future.

[gcutler]

Figuring I had the benefit of a SA TiVo, a 508 filled the need of just bulk recording of stuff that rarely moves, but appears alot ,especially with no monthly or lifetime cost to deal with.

[keeneking]

The $4.99 fee for TIVO with DTV is a deal IMHO. The original cost for equipment is what kept me away from DVRs for so long. Also I don't think a lot people really get how awesome TIVO or DVRs are. TIVO has really been a revolution in my household. All of my friends who have played with my HDVR2 have gone out and make the switch to satellite and TIVO. As a former cable subscriber, I think satellite is nice, but I made the switch because of DVRs. I think there needs to be a major marketing push for DVRs to take off.

[Mark Holtz]

Having leased a 501, I can't imaging watching TV without one.

However, how do you convince your significant other to purchase a unit that costs over $300, with a monthly charge of $12.95 when a VCR costs less than $100 and does the same thing as time-shifting the programming?

Also, outside this board, how many people really time-shift their programming, and how many have the VCR clocks flashing 12:00 (or even worse, covered in black tape).

At the time I got my Dish system (September, 2001), the DirecTivo options had you paying either $9.95 per month or a fee-free PVR. Obviously, the pricing structure has changed since then. I can swollow a $5 fee.

I'm also surprised that DirecTV elected to release a HDVR2 with only 35 hours of recording capacity. Oh well.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Z'Loth
However, how do you convince your significant other to purchase a unit that costs over $300, with a monthly charge of $12.95 when a VCR costs less than $100 and does the same thing as time-shifting the programming?

One thing you can never do with with a VCR is start watching a 60 minute show 15-20 minutes after it starts and be able to skip the commericals and finish the show when the show is really over. The ability to watch a 60 minute show in 45 minutes. Just think how much your significant other would appreciate the extra 15 minutes per half hour so you can take out the garbage or talk endlessly about your relationship :p

[Jacob S]

The buffer and skip features is a major advantage of a pvr over a dvd or vcr and is the main difference. I think a combination of dvd burning and hard drive would be the best way to have a solution to some problems. The hard drive could be used for buffer for live tv and the dvd player to record the shows you want to store. I know they do have a combination unit out but it is pricey at this time.

[gcutler]

The Combo HardDrive and DVD-Burner units are starting to work their way below the $500 range. At that point they should get popular.

[Mark Holtz]

Originally posted by gcutler
One thing you can never do with with a VCR is start watching a 60 minute show 15-20 minutes after it starts and be able to skip the commericals and finish the show when the show is really over. The ability to watch a 60 minute show in 45 minutes. Just think how much your significant other would appreciate the extra 15 minutes per half hour so you can take out the garbage or talk endlessly about your relationship :p

You're preaching to the choir. We know the advantages of a PVR, especially coupled with the STB (either Dish or DirecTV). The question is: Has Tivo overestimated the market for timeshifting programs?

My parents couldn't get used to the idea of "recording for later" or even the concept of "renting a movie", while, I, on the other hand, time shift everything and watch DVDs. And, for comparison sakes, since DVD was introduced in March, 1997, there have been millions of DVD players sold, while PVRs only number in the hundreds of thousands. Of course, a DVD player used to cost $399 and up, now one can be purchased for under $100.

[gcutler]

You figure it they were going to "bear Witness of the POWER" make them wait 15-20 minutes (talk about stuff your mom asks you but you typically avoid answering) then start watching the show and show mom that you saved 15 minutes and still finished the the show on time. Now of course dad is no longer talking to you as he had to find something to do 15 minutes out of every hour (That prostate problem actually becomes a good excuse to disappear 15 minutes every hour) :p

[Jacob S]

DVD players have come down in price a lot quicker than VCR's have. Hard drive/DVD burner combo's are $1,000 for the cheapest price, just the DVD burner alone is now below $500.

[ADent]

I used to time shift a lot with VCR. It was always a pain to wait until the show was over, shuffling the tapes (I watched the 1st hour and the 4rd hour, 2,3,5,6 are empty on about 10 different tapes per Murphy's law).

TiVo is great. TiVo is wonderful. Bought my units for $99 and the SA was when it was $10/month or $199 (I went for the $199 eventually). I don't think I would do it today for the $13 or $300 (though TiVo withdrawal could be painful), not to mention $250 up front.

The DTiVo is a deal at $5/month for two tuners, well worth it, and why I don't even think of jumping back to cable (which is a whole $0.50 cheaper per month, not counting TiVo)