Ever since DirecTV decided to part ways with TiVo and roll its own DVR, fans of the pioneering TiVo have fervently hoped that the two service providers would reunite. While the companies have played nicely with one another since the split, providing a handful of modest feature improvements to DirecTV TiVo owners, there was no indication that DirecTV had any plans to embrace the TiVo platform once again. That has finally changed, as a new HD-capable TiVo for DirecTV customers will be launching in the second half of next year.
The two companies have had an on-again, off-again relationship. DirecTV initially offered its subscribers DVR hardware from TiVo, but then began distributing its own equipment, including the first HD-capable hardware. Two things appear to have changed that stance: new management at DirecTV and TiVo's winning streak in lawsuits against competing DVR makers.
We speculated in our earlier coverage that the companies' increased cooperation would ultimately lead to HD-capable TiVos being offered to the satellite subscribers. That day has now come to pass, as TiVo announced the new agreement this morning. The agreement isn't a slam-dunk for TiVo, though, as the satellite provider will continue to develop and market its own, competing equipment—even TiVo's announcement of the deal suggests that this equipment will be "primary offerings" for DirecTV subscribers.
Still, the new offering will ensure that TiVo has at least one more outlet for its hardware as the company eyes ways of getting its hardware into the homes of more users without shouldering the cost of advertising and sales. "This agreement demonstrates our continued embrace of mass distribution opportunities in cooperation with major multichannel operators," stated Tom Rogers, TiVo's CEO.
Unfortunately for TiVo fans that are itching for HD action, the hardware won't launch until the second half of 2009.
While this is great news for TiVo fans and DirecTV users, one wonders whether late 2009 will be too little too late. DirecTV's aggressive ramp-up of MPEG-4 HD programming has left owners of the original Hughes DirecTV TiVo with a scant handful of high-def options to choose from. As a result, many TiVo fans have moved on. In fact, all of the Hughes DirecTV TiVos at the Orbiting HQ have been replaced by DirecTV HD DVRs, and, while we miss the TiVo interface and some of the power-user features (dual-tuner channel surfing owns), the DirecTV DVR really isn't that bad. Such a statement may appear to be a case of damning with faint praise, but the reality is that those who have had a year or two to grow accustomed to DirecTV's homegrown DVR may prove reluctant to spend the money necessary to move back to TiVo.
