There are other PVR options in Australia, have been for years, it’s all just standard DVB-T here. Nothing as polished as TiVo but ad-skipping functions are pretty much the norm. My Topfield TF5000PVRt, for example, does a 3-minute skip, a 30-second skip, and a 10-second reverse-skip.

EPG has been available for a long time too, you’ve just had to go to a third party (e.g., IceTV) to get it. What’s new is the networks broadcasting more than now/next.

As to what they’ll be disabling, I’d assume any sort of skip function will be out. This cites x60 as the limit the networks are willing to accept.

We want to replace our aging Topfield but will wait and see just how badly Seven hobbles TiVo before we do anything.

Even in the US, many – I believe most – TiVo users don’t even know about the 30ss code. Regularly I get someone asking what it is when I mention it online. It isn’t in any of the documentation or official materials, and the vast majority of users aren’t active in the online forums to learn it. People don’t miss what they don’t know they could’ve had – and most, nearly all, of the consumers in the Australian market aren’t expecting 30ss.

And if the competition starts adding features like that – TiVo can always add it in an update.

On the other hand, its a marketing guy, so he might just not have any idea what he’s talking about.

I don’t see much chance for significant sales or revenue to TiVo out of this. Monkeying with FF/30sec skip can only hurt.