fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to bcronin
Re: Trouble on CableVision at first, but ok now It's ironic that you said "I feel that having the have the tuning adapter puts TiVo at a competitive disadvantage. I suppose Cable companies like it that way, but its fundamentally unfair."
I'm sure that cable is/would say the same thing that a user-base the size as TiVo on their system as small as they may be in total, would force cable to remain at a competitive disadvantage to other providers like satellite. I'm also sure that the overwhelming majority of cable customers don't want to be kept or forced to be kept behind in technology so a handful of TiVo users can continue to use their boxes.
There are pros and cons on both sides of this argument. While Tivo users like their boxes over cable and they think that they are saving money, (and in some cases some DO) TiVo ultimately can become a thorn in the side of a cable industry that's on a curve in transformation. Personally, I've always felt that tivo users is to cable as ham radio users were to Power delivered broadband.
I personally think that Tivo is a company that bottom feeds on another industry and fights for it's right to exist at the hand at someone else. While Tivo sits back and cries foul, they pull the same stunts of the entity they complain about all the time.
Tivo hasn't had a good lasting relationship with DirecTV, DishNetwork, and now cable, comcast in particular. ... ever wonder why? .. they want control. They are kind of the apple of video services.
When ever cable wants to change their plants, they take all responsibility in replacing customer equipment. Tivo SELLS the customer the equipment and then creates a monthly subscription to continue to generate revenue making them more of a 'service provider' and not a hardware manufacturer.
Bottom line is that Tivo can't exist these days with out cable, satellite, or fiber systems.. they need to start rethinking their strategy on not only how they're going to adapt and handle the quickly changing video business, or get out of their Cybil mentality of "we sell hardware, no, we sell a service, no, we sell hardware".. and stop whining and realize they need to adapt to keep up and stop thinking that if they're going to survive like a parasite on a host that the host is going to always be the same moving forward.
Yes, Tivo is much at fault and took some risks in their business model and needs to take some responsibility in this. You can't sell a piece of equipment that depends on something else to work, and expect that the industry is going to keep up with you.
My two cents. |
