[opendtv] TiVo Takes On Hollywood -- Again / The DVR service risks alienating the industry it needs most.
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 15:11:35 -0400
TiVo Takes On Hollywood -- Again
The DVR service risks alienating the industry it needs most.
By Phillip Swann
Washington, D.C. (July 22) -- Four years ago, TiVo was a four-letter
word in Hollywood -- in more ways than one.
The Digital Video Recorder service, which enables users to
fast-forward past commercials, petrified entertainment officials who
envisioned that the device would wipe out their advertising
divisions. Their concerns were hardly softened when TiVo ran a TV
commercial showing a DVR representative throwing a network executive
out of the window of an office building. TiVo's message was clear:
Network execs, your days are numbered.
However, TiVo's executive team soon realized that their decision to
market 'ad-skipping' was suicidal. Without the support of Hollywood
-- and the advertising dollars of the networks and the studios -- the
DVR service would be solely dependent on subscription revenue. And
with subs climbing slowly, the strategy would eventually put TiVo out
of business.
So, TiVo set out to mend fences in Tinseltown, playing down the
ad-skipping feature and making promises that it would help
entertainment companies deliver advertising messages in exciting new
ways, such as video pop-up ads and e-mail downloads. The new approach
started to pay off a few years ago when entertainment companies
started to advertise with TiVo's service. Primetime network shows
such as Will & Grace began name-dropping TiVo in episodes. Suddenly,
the DVR service was a new star in Hollywood.
But now it appears that TiVo has wiped out four years of hard work
with one action. TiVo wants to permit subscribers to transfer
recorded shows to other devices, including laptops and PCs, so they
could watch them anywhere. The "video to go" concept has prompted
Hollywood studios and the National Football League to say the new
service could violate their copyrights by sending the programs in a
digital form, which are more easily copied and possibly distributed
over the Internet. The studios and the NFL have filed protests with
the Federal Communications Commission.
...
http://tvpredictions.com/tivohollywood072204.html
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