Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Georgia, USA
Posts: 2681

DON'T BELIEVE the negative TiVo press!!!

Over the past few days, there has been a bunch of threads linking to negative TiVo articles.

One pointed to a Microsoft website article (makers of UltimateTV, a very small competitor to TiVo at this point), another to our old friend Phillip Swann (who has some kind of ax to grind with TiVo...I've never seen a positive article on TiVo by him...and his predictions are ALWAYS wrong!) ...and several others.

Why, all of a sudden the bad press???

Very easy answer.....

1. TiVo is just about to release the Series II DirectTiVo....and they are getting pre-ordered like hotcakes.

2. DirectTV and TiVo have a partnership going now....instead of TiVo, it will be named "DirectTV DVR powered by TiVo" and will be very heavily subsidized and advertised by DirectTV.

3. DirectTV has just changed their website to really highlight the new "DVR" product featuring TiVo. They have reduced the price of the subscription to $4.99/month and also are giving the service away for free for Premiere subscribers.
http://directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/TIVO.jsp
http://directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/TIVOFeatures.jsp

4. The DirectTV/Echostar merger is DEAD

5. Christmas is around the corner

Microsoft, SonicBlue, and all their supporters, investors, etc are all spreading FUD. They are seeing the writing on the wall....With the merger dead, Dish can't obsolete the DirectTiVos and DirectTV can really ramp up the advertising and support of TiVo. TiVo Series II combo boxes are going to sell like crazy over the next few months and pretty much wipe out what is left of Ultimate TV and will put a hurting on Replay TV.

DON'T BELIEVE THE FUD!!!

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Last edited by unixadm on 10-11-2002 at 06:52 AM

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Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Bothell, WA, USA
Posts: 151

You mean, not everything you read on the Internet is true?

*innocently bats eyelashes*

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Registered: Feb 2002
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Posts: 158

Well this negative news comes from TiVo itself. This makes me a little nervous:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/021010/tivo8-k.html

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Registered: Jul 2002
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"Well this negative news comes from TiVo itself. This makes me a little nervous:
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/021010/tivo8-k.html

That is SOP !!!!!!!!!1

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Maricopa County Maximum Security Correctional Facility For Men, State Farm Road Number 31, Tempe, Arizona
Posts: 4413

A completely standard 8-K filing makes you a little nervous?

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: New Orleans, LA
Posts: 1777

Isn't Microsoft slated to release a new X-Box that features stand-alone PVR functionality based on Ultimate TV in time for this Christmas?

Almost all the "negative press" on TiVo is originating from Microsoft.

Let's analyze the facts:

• Microsoft is about to release a stand-alone PVR product for this Christmas season. Nothing like bashing the market leader in that type of product with a huge steaming pile of FUD just before that release.
  
• The predecessor to Ultimate TV, the DishPlayer, was resoundingly rejected by Echostar as their companies PVR technology of choice. This is what caused Microsoft to rename the "DishPlayer" to "Ultimate TV" bump the feature set up a bit (bigger hard drive and dual tuners) and take it to DirecTV.. only to have....
  
• DirecTV slap them in the face by rejecting the Ultimate TV technology in favor of TiVo as their PVR technology of choice.
  

Microsoft wants into the PVR market in a big way and they write an article essentially saying the concept itself is flawed? Pretty dogonne disingenuous, don't ya think?

TiVO is the thorn in the side of Ultimate TV and the new X-Box. Sour grapes is what I smell here.

The only thing that worries me is that companies who raise the ire of Microsoft, and Microsoft sets its competitive sights on and launches a FUD campaign against usually perish. (Netscape, Borland, Wordperfect...)

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 158

Is that stanard? I hope so. I know nothing about these matters, so if all this is required to satisfy some legal issue, then I feel better.

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Registered: May 2000
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Posts: 811

I'm not saying there isn't some smearing going on, it's always possible given MS history of dirty tactics. But I'd feel a lot safer dismissing it all if Tivo was actually making money, had an integrated dual-tuner Tivo/cable STB box out to target the massive cable market that other companies now have a head start with, and the whole PVR concept wasn't still such a mystery to everybody but us.

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Registered: Mar 2000
Location:
Posts: 1031

tim: Without venturing into stock talk (which is banned on these forums), a lot of those SEC filings are about full disclosure kind of thing. The idea being that investors must know all the facts before investing. So a lot of those sort of things are really "why not to buy our stock". It's to keep from getting sued, because if your company crashes and burns in a way you didn't mention to them, all your stockholders can sue you for that lost value.

This is kind of "stock talk", however, and really needs to end here now.

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Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Bothell, WA, USA
Posts: 151

quote:

---

Isn't Microsoft slated to release a new X-Box that features stand-alone PVR functionality based on Ultimate TV in time for this Christmas?

---

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223 Hr. Series|2 TiVo
87 Hr. DSR7000 DirecTiVo

The Revolution will be Televised.
I'm just watching it on a 30 minute delay.

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: Location: Location
Posts: 6869

You want to read something scary - take a look at Sonic Blue's 10k filing. Start on page 24 under the heading "FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT OUR RESULTS" and read down through page 41.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: Clifton, VA
Posts: 890

you guys jumped to blaming microsoft awefully quickly. cant the author just have an opinion? Seems to me that he raises reasonable points to consider. Rather than raising a straw dog in microsoft to attack, it would be much more reasonable to counter by pointing out TiVo's surge toward profitability and other positive signs, which is how unixadm started this thread.

roger

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Georgia, USA
Posts: 2681

boywaja,

It isn't just MS, though.....If you look around the forum, there have to be about 8 different threads mentioning some sort of bad press. Several of them point to the same article, but there have been several things this week.

Interesting timing, don't you think? Let's see:

1. DirectTV/Echo* merger is denied
2. DirecTV changes their website to include a WHOLE BUNCH of new stuff about their "new" DirecTV DVR service powered by TiVo
3. Some Circuit Cities are refusing to pre-order the new DirectTiVo because there have been too many pre-ordered already

And now a rash of articles about the demise of TiVo......

You do the math!....IF it looks like FUD, walks like FUD, smells like FUD...well, by golly, it must be FUD!

With DirecTV Solidly behind TiVo with the new box and promoting it very boldly on their website (and soon, presumably, on the phone and billing statements), TiVo will be around for a while. And I expect that after this Christmas, that Ramsey will be reporting that they are finally in the Black (their projection was 2003 to be in the Black, and I suspect they are going to meet that deadline)

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TiVo has forever changed the way I view TV!

"If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people.
If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you."

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Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Crown Point, IN USA
Posts: 3034

Roger,

They can have their opions, but in our experience, these "doom & gloom" articles are rarely researched well, by someone who has made dire predicitons about TiVo in the past (which haven't come true), are from Microsoft, or from paranoid privacy freaks who refuse to believe that, although TiVo COULD snoop on us, they don't (as has been verifed by our underground.)

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Bridgewater Nj 08807
Posts: 1924

Where can you preorder a directivo series 2?

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Georgia, USA
Posts: 2681

quote:

---

Originally posted by ufo4sale
Where can you preorder a directivo series 2?

---

__________________
TiVo has forever changed the way I view TV!

"If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people.
If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you."

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Chicago,IL,USA
Posts: 267

quote:

---

Originally posted by unixadm
If your local Circuit City won't, try another one. Most of them are still taking pre-orders although there has been some reports of a few that are not allowing it now.

---

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Georgia, USA
Posts: 2681

If you pre-order at Circuit City, you won't be "in line" behind others, unless you happen to go to a Circuit City that already had a bunch of orders.

When I ordered mine, I was the first to pre-order at my Circuit City. Even if there are a few who pre-ordered before you, I would expect that each CC store will get a bunch of these when they come out...just make sure you get in soon.

__________________
TiVo has forever changed the way I view TV!

"If you're dumb, surround yourself with smart people.
If you're smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you."

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: New Orleans, LA
Posts: 1777

The article that is most negative and is generating the most attention, is the one that appears on MSNBCs web site.

It is written by an MSNBC staff writer who's paycheck says "Microsoft" on it.

It has no basis whatsoever in any real facts, and the company behind it, Microsoft, has every reason to spread FUD about TiVo. Microsoft has a well earned reputation for spreading this sort of FUD against any of their competitors.

I was in error about how soon the new X-box with PVR features is coming out, but it is coming out making Microsoft a direct competitor of TiVo.

I don't think unixadm was saying the article is a response to DirecTVs web site changes, he was saying it was a response to what is genuinely happening in the marketplace. (Which is simply what the change in DirecTV's web site is intending to reflect.) That is, the new DirecTiVo is gathering lots of positive attention and any unbiased analyst expects it to be a big seller.

In addition, most unbiased analysts without a FUD spreading agenda, expect TiVo to be in the black sometime early in 2003. This, thanks to their strong partnerships with DirecTV and with Sony, both of which are expected to bear big financial fruit in the coming months.

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Last edited by Fish Man on 10-11-2002 at 09:46 PM

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: New York
Posts: 293

quote:

---

Originally posted by MuscleNerd
There have been *many* MSNBC articles highlighting flaws in Microsoft products.

---

Yeah, and that's because MSNBC's technology news comes from CNET (www.cnet.com) which does NOT get it's paycheck from Microsoft.

Don't believe me? See for yourself...

Read MSNBC article:MSNBC-Outlook Express flaw speeds hacking

Then read this CNET article: CNET-Outlook Express flaw speeds hacking

Also, it should be pointed out it highlights a vulnerability of a Microsoft product...Outlook Express.

Sorry to disappoint the folks who like to jump to conclusions.

As for the Slate article, Microsoft does own Slate but that isn't influenced in their journalism. The last Slate article I read was about how Mac's "Switch ads" are effective and how the author actually likes their ads.

Hmm...Apple praising sounds like the worst thing a website owned by Microsoft could do, but alas, Slate isn't the Microsoft praising fools you think they are.

Don't jump to conclusions all the time people!

-The Simpsons

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