ReplayTV uses a 7 Gig drive...
Notice that last line, but don't ask me...
FOR TV WATCHERS, PAUSE STOPS TIME
KENNETH LI
09/11/98
New York Daily News
Page 88
(Copyright 1998 Daily News, L.P.)
Couch potatoes need no longer wait for the commercials.
A new VCR-like device will let TV watchers literally stop time with a twitch of the finger.
Replay Networks is rushing to shelves in November a black box that lets TV watchers pause live television.
The 15-employee, 1-year-old Silicon Alley upstart is betting that its $999 Replay TV controller box will appeal to a broad base of TV addicts.
"The prime-time artifact was designed in the 1950s," said Jim Plant, Replay Networks' director of marketing. "But people want more control over their TV watching experience."
The Replay Networks box houses a 7-Gigabyte hard-disc drive that automatically starts recording when users hit the pause button on a special remote control.
When the user returns to viewing, the broadcast will pick up from wherever the user left off.
To catch up with the show, users can even fast-forward past commercials.
Another feature of the unit lets users custom design their own programing channels by topic and keywords. For instance, the device can record every movie Harrison Ford starred in to broadcast over a particular time period.
The box will then create a special channel named Harrison Ford and those films will be ready for playback.
The company is hoping to appeal to upscale electronics aficionados initially, but is looking to license the technology to sell a stripped-down version for $500 by early next year.
However, analysts expect Replay to face a battle later on to maintain market share, since it will compete with other companies planning similar products.
"Replay has a particularly difficult time," said Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications, a technology research firm. "They don't have any brand recognition and they're requiring an expensive up-front investment."
Another source of trouble: Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Tivo is launching a nationwide service early next year that promises to perform nearly the same function as Replay.
Tivo has partnered up with an undisclosed number of broadcasters, cable services and advertisers in hopes of bringing video-on-demand to nearly every city in the country, including New York.
Tivo will charge $300 to $500 for the box that connects to the TV and also charge a monthly $10 subscription fee, a Tivo spokeswoman said.
Also, Microsoft-owned WebTV is planning something similar to Replay over the next few years, Arlen said. |
