If they were to discontinue TiVo, then you would look at other options, probably to include your local cable provider if they have an elegant solution and especially if it's Comcast and they have TiVo. You become an "at risk" customer.
This is what makes the comcast deal so critical. without that, Allen would have no better TiVo option should DirecTV decide to drop support for the present DirecTiVo users, although I do agree that they have no reason to do so. But hypothetically, if DirecTV dropped all TiVos, current DirecTiVo owners would have the following options:
1) Buy a standalone TiVo and use it with DirecTV (lose dual tuners and dolby digital recording capability)
2) Use a DirecTV-branded PVR and keep dual tuners and DD recording.
3) Switch to cable and use either a standalone TiVo or their free PVR.
This is not really a losing situation for DirecTV, because TiVo enthusiasts have no better alternative on the hardware side, and presumably were happy with DirecTV on the programming side anyway (DTV is MUCH cheaper for prgramming in my area). (My feeling is that most would opt for the non-TiVo solution anyway, because dual-tuners are pretty compelling). I agree that its a risk, but not much of one. However, assuming the Comcast TiVo solution comes around, it gives some of these customers a 4th option and a real incentive to switch.
My guess is that current DirecTiVo users will be fine for the forseeable future, but future DTV customers will not have a TiVo option, but rather, a TiVo-like option. And it won't hurt DTV one bit. |
