TiVo’s CEO Tom Rogers spoke at the Natixis Bleichroeder Hidden Gems Conference today and I had it on in the background while working and caught a few things. Again, there wasn’t really a lot new – just repetition of things that were said in the past.
He says that Comcast should “very, very shortly” deploy the TiVo software to non-Comcast employees. And while he wouldn’t disclose the fee for the TiVo service, he said it would only be “a modest up-charge” over the standard Comcast DVR. (Speculation has been in the $3-5/month range.) Cox is planning a ballpark time frame of six months after Comcast deploys the software. Originally Comcast was going to deploy in early summer and Cox by the end of the year, but now it looks like Cox will not deploy until 2008.
As for the EchoStar appeal, TiVo isn’t expecting a ruling for 4-6 months.
Rogers re-iterated that the TiVo HD is not subsidized when sold directly from TiVo.com, but it does have a small subsidy at retail.
And, again, he made several comments hinting that DirecTV and TiVo may cozy up again once Liberty Media completes the acquisition of DTV later this year.
