Incomplete Gamer

Is all well in Aussie TiVoland?  Not according to an online  report on UK site The Register. Natalie Apostolou, reports that the Australian  TiVo licensee has dramatically cut its staff in recent weeks.  Tech blog, Gizmodo asks the question, is TiVo dying in Australia?  TiVo Australia say it’s business as usual on their official Facebook page, which might be a reassuring message if it wasn’t surrounded by  a sea of negative postings from an unhappy customer base.  The Incomplete Gamer is an unashamed fan of all things TiVo, as you’ll know if you’ve spent any time here.  Stick around  however, and we’ll take off our rose-colored glasses just long enough to examine what went wrong with TiVo down under.

Over Christmas last year I wandered into my local Myer department store, wallet at the ready, to buy my first HD TiVo,  a 320GB HD TiVo.  Not my first TiVo, however.  The Incomplete Gamer  has long been a fan of the TiVo.  Two Series 1 models imported from the US, have faithfully been recording their content (albeit Standard Definition) for over five years at Incomplete Gamer HQ, but this was to be my first foray into the world of TiVo HD.

I’d resisted for as long as I could, but TiV’o’s cash-back deal, combined with a Myer One 10% discount, meant that a shiny new TiVo could be had for under $400, complete with wireless USB dongle.  Trouble was, the Myer salesman knew nothing of TiVo’s current marketing promotion, and even a quick look at the website wasn’t enough to convince him of the mechanics of the transaction (he wanted me to obtain the dongle via redemption, where as, I was convinced it was meant to be supplied in store).

In the end it was all too hard and I walked out of the store TiVoless.  Tivo had finally hit a price that represented value for money, and the word had even hit the street (or at least Ozbargain and Whirlpool).  Trouble was, it hadn’t reached the staff at Myer.  I didn’t end up buying a shiny new TiVo.   My Series 1 models are still doing what they do, relatively quietly.    To satiate my desire for HD recording I imported a PS3 PlayTV from the UK for the princely sum of $38.  Interestingly enough, the PlayTV unit doesn’t really get a great workout.  My viewing habits and I suspect a large number of the Australian TV viewing audience have changed dramatically in the last five years.

Timing is everything

TiVo launched in the US over ten years ago into a market served with a vast amount of free-to-air and cable TV programming. TiVo was the answer to the following question: In such a vast sea of TV programming, how do I find what I want to watch, and then record it, so I can watch it when I want to? There was a ready made audience for TiVo. Millions of American with multiple cable TV and free-to-air-TV services, but no single device capable of providing all of that programming data and the ability to record it in a seamless idiot- proof fashion.

Ten years on in Australia and it’s a very different landscape.  Here there is really only one cable TV provider (Foxtel) and a much more limited free-to-air TV offering.   Digital TV has launched and with it, its own Electronic Program Guide (EPG).  Sure the commercial channels have thrown some additional channels at us, but really done little else but shuffled their existing programming across their new channels and padded it out with re-runs.

In this environment, TiVo’s trump card (really its only card in the pack), was its famed functionality.  While in the States, TiVo is sold  at a lower initial cost and a monthly subscription to cover the cost of the supplied EPG, in Australia, such a pricing model was never an option.  Put simply, no one would have paid for a free-to-air EPG supplied over the internet, when DTV offer a free guide.

One up-front payment might have been viable, if the price was right.  It wasn’t.  More fully featured DVR’s with larger storage capabilities went head to head with TiVo and Australians voted with their wallets.

But pricing and poor in-store product knowledge were not the only issues.  The world has moved on since 2000 and so have our TV viewing habits.  Here at IG HQ we’re far more likely to buy our favorite telly on Blu-ray and DVD.  Around the country, millions are doing likewise and those that aren’t are downloading shows using Bit Torrent or Usenet.

Obtaining the rights to market a product as iconic and beloved as TiVo may have seemed at first glance, like a license to print money. But imagine if you will if someone offered to you the rights to market and sell Sony Walkman cassette players, only these units would only function if they had access to wireless ADSL broadband.  Ludicrous right?  An outdated technology, further crippled by needing access to wireless broadband in order to be fully functional.

TiVo will always have a special place in our hearts, and we’re not giving up our Series One recorders, but we won’t be lining up to buy or sell TiVos any time soon.