TiVo’s fortunes are on the rise, and it may be because the company is pushing beyond DVR to reposition itself as the producer of the must-have home media hub. According to CEO Tom Rogers, the company’s new Premiere DVR box – which comes free with a two-year subscription for $20 a month, and offers users access to streamed VoD content from Amazon.com, Netflix and YouTube as well as traditional DVR uses – has not only raised sales, but also TV usability for its customers: “It’s kind of astonishing that the most-viewed screen in the house is so far behind the times in terms of third-party applications.”
(Interestingly enough, Rogers is also talking down competing media hub boxes, saying that their flaw is that they’re viewed “not as a substitute, but as a supplement” to DVR and live television: “Somebody who uses Apple TV only could be spending easily $100 to $120 a month just for a few hours a day.”)
Driven by the increased sales activity and hype, TiVo shares jumped 9% yesterday.
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