I've pretty much given up linking to articles on the future of TiVo. There are hundreds of them out there, many employing the phrase "death watch," which is never a good sign. There seems to be no doubt that TiVo has suffered from the kind of technological lag that doomed the Betamax. For whatever reason, its makers simply have not advanced the product at a sufficient rate to remain competitive, and TiVo is taking body blows from the many breeds of Personal Video Recorder now being offered by local cable companies.
I remain mildly skeptical of claims that TiVo's demise is a foregone conclusion. We've heard that about too many things that are still around, including the Democratic party, and if TiVo is acquired or comes through with a breakthrough upgrade, it could be a brand new ballgame. Even as matters stand, the company's fourth quarter earnings report (this one) contains a fair amount of encouraging news. Hidden in there though are details of the vast amounts of cash that have been spent to buy much of that good news via rebates and giveaways. You can get long lines outside your restaurant if you're giving the food away…but only for so long.
Many futures are possible, including TiVo merging into some other computer-based product. There's talk of acquisition by Apple, which could make TiVo an adjunct to its iPod line, the two devices interfacing and morphing into one another. At some point soon, we're all going to be buying or upgrading to some sort of omnipotent Media Machine that will reside in our homes, connected to all sources of entertainment: Satellite TV and/or radio, cable, the Internet, maybe a DVD library, etc. Such devices will capture everything we wish to listen to or view and output it to DVDs or CDs or MP3 players or route it to various players around our home network. It remains to be seen whether TiVo will be a component of a leading brand of one.
Worst case scenario, of course, is that TiVo goes under, which it well might. What that will mean to those of us who own one (or in my case, three) is probably a brief period of chaos as it goes Open Source, releasing the necessary codes so that new companies can sell us the programming information guides that we now download from TiVo. Then we can all continue to use our TiVos until we give up and switch to those fancy-shmancy Home Media Machines. Or maybe someone will be wise enough to market one that will interface with your old TiVo and allow you to continue to use it. I just hope they keep that cute little TiVo logo guy around. I've grown accustomed to that fellow. He's on my TV more often than Regis Philbin…and he's a lot funnier.