Smarthouse is reporting that Seven Network’s Hybrid Television Services is considering bringing Nero’s LiquidTV | TiVo PC to Australia. As I covered back in September, LiquidTV | TiVo PC turns a PC into a TiVo DVR with most of the feature you get in a standalone TiVo, and a few you don’t. Seven, of course, launched the standalone TiVo in Australia a mid-year. Bringing the PC software to Australia would expand the market to media center PC users, and I’m sure leverage the guide data infrastructure in place for the standalone model.

Sorry for the wave of TiVo Australia posts, I keep getting new alerts with new info after I’ve already posted. Better than no news, right?

APCMag.com has more news on what’s coming for TiVo in Australia. By the end of the week Hybrid TV Services will be offering three games, Classy Couples, Sudoku and Wild Pair, as well as a world clock and horoscopes. Joining them soon will be PixelEye, a service which provides access to Photobucket and Picasa - which US TiVo users already enjoy.

Coming on February 3, 2009 will be a 1TB external drive, eSATA I presume. I’d like to see 1TB offered here, currently the official expansion drive is 500GB. Also coming in early 2009 will be the addition of DMG Radio channels Nova and Vega FM, providing music through TiVo. And they did confirm Domino’s Pizza ordering is coming in early 2009 as well.

They’ve also released some statistics. The first test title for broadband movie downloads, The Water Horse, has been downloaded by 25% of TiVo owners. And 73% of TiVo users access the weather information currently available via broadband at least once a week.

Yeah, TiVomino’s is a neologism I just made up, deal with it. Anyway, this shouldn’t be a surprise. First it was announced that pizza ordering would be coming to Australian TiVos. And then Domino’s Pizza ordering was announced for the US. So if you can put 2+2 together, it should be obvious what I’m coming to - the pizza ordering in Australia will also be Domino’s. At least that’s what the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting Hybrid TV Services, the Australian distributor of TiVo, is now saying.

TiVo launched in Australia with a AUD$699 price tag and no subscription fees, and it has been doing OK base on past reports. But perhaps not well enough to satisfy Seven Network. Smarthouse reports that Hybrid Media Services, which was setup by Seven to handle TiVo in Australia launched a new TiVo offer. Under the new offer, called Flexirent, users are able to rent a TiVo for AUD$37.58/month over a three year period or AUD$48.22/month with a two year commitment. That would add up to AUD$1,352.88, or AUD$1,157.28, over the terms of the agreements. Conversely, it would eliminate the up-front cost, which may appeal to some users.

For users interesting in owning their TiVo outright, but for whom the AUD$699 cost is too much to swallow in one go, a 10-payment plan is also offered. AUD$69.90 a month for 10 months covers the cost of the TiVo.

The up-front, no fees and retail options remains for user who prefer that option.

Foxtel’s General Manager Box Office, New Media and Pay-Per-View, Brenden Moo responded by saying “I was under the impression that TiVo were not going to offer a subscription service their new Flexirent offering smacks of a disguised subscription fee”. That is one way to look at it, but he may be concerned as Foxtel’s pay-TV service subscription costs from AUD$37.95 up to AUD$105.95 depending on the package, and their iQ2 HD DVR is an additional AUD$200 up-front. So a TiVo subscription package priced about the same as their low-end offer with no up-front fee could provide some strong competition.

There’s another interesting tidbit on the TiVo Australia website, while they’re using MPEG-2 today for movie downloads, by March 2009 they plan to use MPEG-4 to reduce bandwidth usage and speed up downloads. Since other announcements for Australia have later appeared in the US it makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing MPEG-4 movie downloads in the US soon.

Louisa Hearn of the Sydney Morning Herald recently replaced her “ageing video recorder” with a brand new TiVo. And she chronicled the ups and downs of the first seven days with her new TiVo. In the end there are more ups than downs, and by the end of the week she says:

Perhaps it is the “post purchase satisfaction” they talk about in the marketing world or just the fact that it has a nice, uncluttered, user interface and an intuitive remote control, but I am growing rather attached to my new DVR.

I found it interesting because it isn’t the usual techie review, but more of a journal of the experience, brief as it is. She and her family ran into a few issues that other users may well experience, such as needing to configure their home network and sorting out how to wire their system with a TiVo and DVD player. I think it is a good view into the experience for folks just thinking of getting their first TiVo.

Well, it seems that Foxtel just may be worried about competition from TiVo in Australia. First their chief exec tried flinging FUD, and now they’re offering discounts. While TiVo is sold for a flat AUD$699 with no subscription fees, Foxtel is a pay TV service. So while the upfront costs are lower, there are ongoing fees. As I wrote in July:

Seven’s major competitor is the pay-TV service Foxtel, which offers their Foxtel iQ2 DVR. While the iQ2 is only AUD$200, AUD$500 less than TiVo, there is a monthly fee. The iQ2 costs AUD$10-15 on top of the standard Foxtel subscription (Foxtel is a Pay TV service), which runs AUD$37.95 up to AUD$105.95 a month, depending on the level of service. Since the TiVo records free-to-air broadcasts and has no monthly fee, it rapidly becomes the less expensive option.

Well, with TiVo selling well in Australia, it seems that Foxtel is making moves to remain competitive. Rapid TV News reports that Foxtel is offering discounts and better contract terms on their DVRs. The Foxtel iQ SD DVR is being offered without an install fee and free of the AUD$10 monthly DVR fee for one year. The iQ2 HD DVR is still AUD$200 upfront, but Foxtel is waiving the DVR fee for seven months. They’re also offering the service with a 12-month commitment, instead of their usual 24-month plan.

In the end competition is good for consumers.

Foxtel is TiVo’s primary competitor in Australia. While TiVo is sold by Seven Network and is a ‘free to air’ DVR used with broadcast TV, with no subscription fees, Foxtel’s iQ/iQ2 DVRs are used with Foxtel’s pay TV service. It is akin to DirecTV or Dish Network in the US, and beyond the initial acquisition fees there are ongoing monthly fees, which can be quite steep if you want the full range of channels. According to the Herald Sun, Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams took an opportunity to throw some FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) in TiVo’s direction:

[F]or Seven Network, “the horse has bolted”.

“The iQ is the industry standard,” Mr Williams said.

“I see TiVo as a latecomer with little to recommend it.”

Sounds to me like someone is worried, you don’t need to take swipes like this at a competitor if they’re really no threat to your business.

The good news is it sounds like TiVo is finally embracing HME and encouraging developers, the bad news is this is TiVo Australia. As regular readers are likely aware, I’ve repeatedly expressed frustration with the way TiVo has handled HME in the US. I’m happy to see TiVo Australia encouraging HME developers, and I wonder if that signals any change for the US as well, though I’m not getting my hopes up. I also wonder if this means there’ll be an update to the HME SDK, which has long languished.

The currently available SDK was last updated over a year ago, on 10/2/2007, and that’s an experimental release. The last official release was over three years ago, on 10/31/2005. The SDK is woefully out of date, even the experimental release has iffy HD support and there is no support for recently added features, like streaming video, which are possible as the hacker community has reverse engineered how to do it. I do hope the Australian developers will get an updated SDK so they can create some great applications, and they won’t be hobbled by the same lack of support as US developers. The good news is any application developed for Australia will probably work on US TiVos as well, so hopefully we’ll see some cool new applications.

Picked up from Gizmodo Australia.

Press release:
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Seven Network, through Hybrid Television Services, has found another way to get TiVo to consumers in Australia - the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. Members of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program may now redeem their points to acquire a TiVo, or combine their points with cash in Points Plus Pay to obtain TiVo at a lower cost. If you’re a member of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program you’ll find TiVo in the Frequent Flyer Store.

Via Smarthouse.

Seven Network has release the first sales figures for TiVo in Australia, and since they went on sale in July about 12,000 units have been sold, according to the Australian Financial Review. Seven is also believed to be negotiating further retail deals with Bing Lee, The Good Guys, Retravision, and Myer, in addition to their existing partners.

“Our aim was to double the size of the digital video recorder marker, which was about 50,000 in 2007,” Mr Warburton said. “We are on track to sell 25,000 by the end of December and are confident of reaching our 50,000 target.”

The 50,000 figure excludes DVRs sold by pay-television companies such as Foxtel, which has sold over 365,000 iQ & iQ2 DVRs since February 2005. Another pay-TV vendor, Austar United Communications reported 57,744 MyStar recorders sold by late October.

Seven says TiVo sales are running ahead of targets, due perhaps to their extensive marketing campaign. Seven spent an estimated AUD$3.5 million worth of airtime to promote TiVo during the Summer Olympics (which Seven Network aired). Since the Olympics their monthly marketing spend has been roughly AUD$200,000 between TV and print.

Overall it sounds like TiVo is doing fairly well down under.