TiVo finally tells TV broadcasters to stuff it
Almost from its inception, TiVo, the San Jose company whose device has given the generic name to digital video recorders, has had an uneasy relationship with the broadcasting industry. But with the release last week of a new model of TiVo recorder dubbed the Bolt, the firm is encouraging customers to "give commercials the finger," in its indelicate words. This is a big change from the past.
A quick look at the history of TiVo. By allowing viewers to fast-forward through commercials (not to mention the dull stretches of TV programs), devices like TiVo's threatened the very principle of advertising-supported TV.
TiVo and its original competitor, ReplayTV--both introduced their products in 1999--took different approaches to this option. Through a button on the Replay remote, you could skip commercials entirely, 30 seconds at a time. Broadcasters hated that. TiVo took a kinder, gentler approach: You could fast-forward, but not skip. That meant that you would still be exposed to the commercials, albeit at turbo-speed. That mollified broadcasters and advertisers somewhat, and it fed into the company's strategy of reaching lucrative cooperative agreements with the networks.
It was a combination of accepting reality (fast-forward was a functionality that TiVo buyers demanded) and leaving broadcasters with at least a crumb of outreach to viewers. It may not have detracted much from the DVR experience, which was as compelling as a thunderclap.
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