Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Seven announced Tivo pricing - $700

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23955607-30540,00.html

$700 + a broadband connection!

Yes, broadband penetration is pretty solid now ... but still, there will investment beyond just buying the unit in terms of either buying a wireless router or setting up another connection in the room with the unit.

TiVo will reportedly only support FTA content ... not Pay TV.

The question you have to ask is, when was the last time you really (and I mean $700 really) wanted to watch two shows at the same time on FTA? I know I generally don't lose sleep when choosing between watching the Big Brother Daily Show or Two and a Half Men reruns.

TiVo works well in the US because there is a heap of content available. I am not sure with 5 FTA stations (lets not pretend any of the HD stations really offer anything compelling as yet) such a device is needed.

I'm thinking Seven had to launch this before the Olympics as this will be the only time in the next 4 years when time shifting TV will be something people actually feel they need ... for the two weeks the Olympics are on that is.

2 comments:

nemesis said...

I think you forgot a few key points Shep:

- The TiVo we get here will be a dumbed down version that we will then have to pay further for to update

- With Foxtel IQ you can actually do pretty much the same thing but get both FTA and Foxtel channels (unless you have satellite and you can't get jack.. damn you Foxtel!!!)

Essentially the only benefit over IQ is that you can access limited online content... hurrah! After so much fanfare about TiVo coming, I can't help but feel a little cheated.

Jamie Crick said...

I couldn't agree more. I like the tech but really, what's the point? I suspect the kind of people who like the idea of a Tivo are the kind of people who are already BitTorrenting the shows they really want to watch, few of which are on FTA.