| Rumors of DirecTV Dumping TiVo Hammers Stock Price |
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| Home Theater News Industry-Trade News | |
| Written by Jerry Del Colliano | |
| Friday, 26 September 2003 | |
 Rumors
reported by the Los Angeles Times and Reuters say that DirecTV, under
the control of News Corp, is planning to end its four year relationship
with TiVo. The rumor sent TiVo’s stock down 16 percent today.TiVo spokespeople have told reporters that they intend to continue to do business with DirecTV and for good reason. Reportedly over half of TiVo’s 800,000 subscribers come from DirecTV. What might Rupert Murdoch and News Corp have up their sleeves? Possibly a deal with Microsoft who unsuccessfully launched a personal video recorder system named Ultimate TV. ReplayTV also has a competing service both of which could be had by DirecTV in a way that could lower costs and or improve earnings. Sources that work closely with the DirecTV installed product say that by the end of the year (or by Q1 2004) TiVo has a DirecTV HDTV version of their PVR. This is a highly anticipated product for the increasing number of consumers who have opted to go for HDTV. With this in mind, Murdoch and DirecTV may just be making noise to make sure TiVo knows who’s boss. Source: e-online.com, Reuters, LA Times Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.        |
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