The nationwide brand marketing is another idea. TiVo is very cautious about marketing expenditures at this point. 

Speaking of the X1, here is a link to a Boston Globe post from today –> http://bostonglobe.com/1970/01/17/techlab/Z2moTbtWBwgU7BWAKclRGJ/story.html

I don’t think adding VOD support, by itself, will have any real measurable impact on TiVo sales.  Yes, there are people who have not purchased TiVo because of the lack of VOD support who will now do so, but not any significant numbers.  So if nothing else changed just flipping this on in retail units wouldn’t yield much gain.

However, enabling VOD support is just part of the equation.  It is part of the larger partnership with Comcast, which enables marketing.  If Comcast does heavy marketing in each area as they’ve started in the Bay Area then that could produce some real sales.  Not as many as if they offered TiVo directly with no need to buy one separately, but the install support, etc., is better than the current “Try your luck” model.

I’m curious to see how much Comcast markets the TiVo offering in comparison to their own X1 offering which they’ve just started to deploy.  Their new X1 STB software actually looks fairly decent.  I don’t think it is as nice as TiVo, based on what I saw at The Cable Show, but it is a HUGE jump up from the old cable software.  So we’ll see.

Once Comcast gets their software out into enough territories TiVo could do nationwide brand marketing, especially if the other deals- like Cox and Charter – move forward.  You don’t want to advertise VOD support until enough of the market actually has it.

I don’t think adding VOD support, by itself, will have any real measurable impact on TiVo sales.  Yes, there are people who have not purchased TiVo because of the lack of VOD support who will now do so, but not any significant numbers.  So if nothing else changed just flipping this on in retail units wouldn’t yield much gain.

However, enabling VOD support is just part of the equation.  It is part of the larger partnership with Comcast, which enables marketing.  If Comcast does heavy marketing in each area as they’ve started in the Bay Area then that could produce some real sales.  Not as many as if they offered TiVo directly with no need to buy one separately, but the install support, etc., is better than the current “Try your luck” model.

I’m curious to see how much Comcast markets the TiVo offering in comparison to their own X1 offering which they’ve just started to deploy.  Their new X1 STB software actually looks fairly decent.  I don’t think it is as nice as TiVo, based on what I saw at The Cable Show, but it is a HUGE jump up from the old cable software.  So we’ll see.

Once Comcast gets their software out into enough territories TiVo could do nationwide brand marketing, especially if the other deals- like Cox and Charter – move forward.  You don’t want to advertise VOD support until enough of the market actually has it.