Beantown Next Up For TiVo XFINITY On Demand

TiVo Central Comcast XFINITY On Demand The roll out of XFINITY On Demand for TiVo customers in the San Francisco Bay Area is now complete and it seems to be a great success. The new feature cleanly integrates XFINITY On Demand into the TiVo UI just like any other video service. And now that the SF Bay roll out is out of the way Comcast & TiVo have turned their sights on the next target market: Boston.

This actually isn’t a surprise, as I’ve posted a couple of times, a while back Comcast made the comment that New England was high on their list of territories to follow the SF Bay. Why? Well, to quote myself:

New England is where Comcast launched the old ‘soft-TiVo’ project. The software-only Java-based TiVo interface that was downloaded to run on their standard Motorola DVR hardware. Despite several years of effort it just never worked well. The HW was under-powered, and with the TiVo interface running in Java on a virtual machine running on top of the native OS, it wasn’t a great performer. And Comcast never seemed to iron out the issues with the head end that was supposed to allow them to dynamically push the TiVo software to units in the field. While the effort was abandoned when Comcast switched focus to XFINITY support for retail units, the existing deployment of soft-TiVo units are still supported. Comcast is looking to finally phase them out by getting the users to migrate to a TiVo Premiere once they can do so without losing their On Demand. So they have an incentive to prioritize New England.

So they still have a number of those old units in the field that they’d love to stop supporting, and I bet many of the customers would love the added benefits of having a real TiVo to boot. And perhaps Comcast will be able to recycle some of the work they did on the head end for that project to support the new roll out. In any case, TiVo confirmed today via email that Boston is the next market that will see this roll out. They didn’t provide a specific time frame, saying only that Boston would see this ‘soon’.

As always, you can sign up to be notified when this is available in your area at tivo.com/comcast

Remember, Comcast controls when this is rolled out to a new area, not TiVo. TiVo has delivered their part, the software integration on the unit. The other piece is the head end upgrades to support the service, and that’s what Comcast needs to do for each service area where this is deployed. That’s why it wasn’t flipped on for everyone at once, and why it is getting a region by region roll out. So don’t bother TiVo with questions about when it will come to your area. Odds are they don’t know, and even if they do know they can’t speak for Comcast until Comcast is willing to announce their plans. If you need to pester anyone, pester Comcast.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • Boston

    People from Boston don’t call it Beantown.

    • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

      Living in Worcester, having a number of friends in Boston, and being married to a woman from Southie – yes, some do.  Perhaps ironically, but then, so did I.

    • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

      Living in Worcester, having a number of friends in Boston, and being married to a woman from Southie – yes, some do.  Perhaps ironically, but then, so did I.

  • Jack

    Just curious. How do you define great success?

  • Jack

    Just curious. How do you define great success?

  • Jack

    Just curious. How do you define great success?

  • Jack

    Just curious. How do you define great success?

  • Jack

    Just curious. How do you define great success?

  • Jack

    Just curious. How do you define great success?

    • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

      Based on what I’ve heard and seen reported it is working very well.  It ‘just works’ and once turned on users have full access to the XFINITY On Demand content.  I haven’t seen any major problems with it, which is unusual for any of these MSO-related projects going by history.  From a consumer perspective it seems quite successful – you connect your TiVo and you have access just as you would with a Comcast STB.

    • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

      Based on what I’ve heard and seen reported it is working very well.  It ‘just works’ and once turned on users have full access to the XFINITY On Demand content.  I haven’t seen any major problems with it, which is unusual for any of these MSO-related projects going by history.  From a consumer perspective it seems quite successful – you connect your TiVo and you have access just as you would with a Comcast STB.

    • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

      Based on what I’ve heard and seen reported it is working very well.  It ‘just works’ and once turned on users have full access to the XFINITY On Demand content.  I haven’t seen any major problems with it, which is unusual for any of these MSO-related projects going by history.  From a consumer perspective it seems quite successful – you connect your TiVo and you have access just as you would with a Comcast STB.

      • http://www.twitter.com/davezatz Dave Z

        I dunno… I’ve seen various complaints of limited content organization, sluggish SD UI, CableCARD pairing issues, letterboxes and pillarboxes. Having said that, it’s there and mostly works. Which is quite a success on many levels (technology, timing, business). And wish I could get on demand via my TiVo.

      • http://www.twitter.com/davezatz Dave Z

        I dunno… I’ve seen various complaints of limited content organization, sluggish SD UI, CableCARD pairing issues, letterboxes and pillarboxes. Having said that, it’s there and mostly works. Which is quite a success on many levels (technology, timing, business). And wish I could get on demand via my TiVo.

      • http://www.twitter.com/davezatz Dave Z

        I dunno… I’ve seen various complaints of limited content organization, sluggish SD UI, CableCARD pairing issues, letterboxes and pillarboxes. Having said that, it’s there and mostly works. Which is quite a success on many levels (technology, timing, business). And wish I could get on demand via my TiVo.

        • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

          I think a number of those aren’t unique to XFINITY On Demand.  CableCARD issues are certainly not new or unique.  It doesn’t make them any less of an issue, but at this point their par for the course.  The SD UI is clearly an afterthought at this point, IMHO.  If you’re not using the HD UI on a Premiere you’re not going to get the best experience.  I’m actually a little surprised they did an SD UI at all.

          I haven’t used cable On Demand for years now – actually more like a decade – since I started using TiVo.  But it would be nice to have the option.  I’m sure some of the things I’ve picked up from Amazon Instant Video because I missed recording them I could’ve watched On Demand.  But Charter doesn’t seem to have any intention of supporting retail units, and I’m not going to get a Charter-supplied unit and lose the other services.

      • http://twitter.com/TechWzrd Tech Wizard

        I will define a great success if the support for Xfinity moves the needle on Stand-Alone/TiVo-Owned subscribers. We will see what sort of impact it has in TiVo’s Q213 which ends 7/31/2012. It will be sometime in late August (~8/24) when they report Q2 earnings. With that said, I expect to have some dialogue on Xfinity during their Q1 earnings call which will take place later this month (exact date TBD). 

        I have seen some reports on twitter and TCF about pillarbox issues but I tend to agree with you, it appears to be a success from a technology perspective at this point. I think the advertising campaign looks like a serious attempt by TiVo (funded by Comcast at some level?) to entice subscribers. 

      • http://twitter.com/TechWzrd Tech Wizard

        I will define a great success if the support for Xfinity moves the needle on Stand-Alone/TiVo-Owned subscribers. We will see what sort of impact it has in TiVo’s Q213 which ends 7/31/2012. It will be sometime in late August (~8/24) when they report Q2 earnings. With that said, I expect to have some dialogue on Xfinity during their Q1 earnings call which will take place later this month (exact date TBD). 

        I have seen some reports on twitter and TCF about pillarbox issues but I tend to agree with you, it appears to be a success from a technology perspective at this point. I think the advertising campaign looks like a serious attempt by TiVo (funded by Comcast at some level?) to entice subscribers. 

        • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

          I personally don’t expect implementing On Demand support in retail units to have much effect on the retail sales.  I just don’t think there is a pent of demand of people *not* buying TiVo because it lacks On Demand support who will rush out and buy one because it is supported now.  There will be some, but not significant numbers IMHO.  Especially as this is geographically limited for now.

          Conversely, the marketing *associated* with the launch might move the needle a bit.  Comcast really seems to be doing their part in helping to promote it, and that promotion to their user base might just sell more units.  So the addition of On Demand may be a catalyst for the marketing which has some real effect.  But just adding the feature isn’t something I’d expect would have much impact just by itself.

          I think it is a good thing, and anything that improves the product helps cumulatively raise sales, but I don’t think this is any kind of silver bullet.