The THR22 initially launched back on 12/8, but only in limited markets and it was only available directly from DirecTV. Now it is available nationwide from resellers as well as DirecTV. Which also means the super-sized units are available through WeaKnees.

While the THR22 lacks many of the features of the current DirecTV DVRs, if you prefer the TiVo interface it is the only game in town for DirecTV. And that’s enough for some users.

This isn’t a guarantee, and it is subject to change, you know the drill. But they seem to feel it is a fairly solid date. It it holds true, it should make a lot of people happy.

Current Shipping Status of the THR22 TiVo for DIRECTV

When will these ship from WeaKnees?

DIRECTV has a limited number of these units currently available, and has not yet started shipping to distributors and retailers. We are currently being told that we should have our initial allocation towards the end of January or beginning of February, 2012.

Of course, we are doing everything we can to speed up the timeline, and also to make sure our initial allocation will allow us to fill all backorders that we’ve taken up until that point. For the best chance of getting a unit in the initial allocation, be sure to get your order in early.

Orders may be cancelled at any time up until the product actually ships. If an order is cancelled and then reinstated, the position in the shipping queue will be lost and the order will be moved to the back of the queue.

Last Updated: 12/16/2011

More information about the HD TiVo THR22 for DIRECTV:

• Works with TiVo’s KidZone for parental controls (requires a network connection)
• Has two 30 minute buffers that are always active
• Compatible with DIRECTV On Demand (requires a network connection)
• Traditional TiVo Season Passes with all the features – and an unlimited number!
• TiVo SwivelSearch and WishList Search options (requires a network connection)
• Up to 1080p HD resolution
• Fully SWM compatible
• Includes a new DIRECTV access card
• Includes two B-Band adapters for use in non-SWM systems
• Ships with HDMI, composite, component, phone, and power cables
• NOT compatible with other TiVo Peanut Remotes
• Add an AM21 to get over-the-air HD channels into your THR22
• The following DIRECTV features are not available with the TiVo HD DVR: Whole-Home DVR service, DIRECTV iPad App remote control and live TV streaming functionality, DIRECTV CINEMA (satellite downloads), YouTube on TV, 3D, and GameSearch
• Monthly fees: $10 HD fee, $7 DVR fee, and $5 TiVo fee, in addition to your monthly receiver/lease fee. The HD, DVR, and TiVo fees are once per account, no matter how many DVRs are on the account. The receiver/lease fee occurs per unit.

Chicago IL
Denver CO
Los Angeles CA
New York NY
Philadelphia PA
Phoenix AZ
Sacramento CA
San Francisco CA
Seattle WA
Washington DC

As DirecTV’s forum post states:“The national rollout for all remaining markets is still being evaluated.” This isn’t a surprised though, we were warned to expect this on TiVo’s last quarterly call.

As for pricing:

The TiVo® HD DVR will carry a $5 per month TiVo service fee, which is in addition to the $10 per month HD Access fee and the $7 per month DVR service fee.

The post includes a TiVo Overview v1.2 document PDF which I’ve uploaded.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the new DirecTiVo is going to fare well. DirecTV delayed it long enough to get their new, in-house HD UI out and the new five tuner HR34 is about to release as well. The THR22 is based on the old HR22 HW and the TiVo OS it is running looks like the old TiVo HD platform tweaked for DirecTV, and not the TiVo Premiere base – no HD UI. Now, we won’t know until people get the units and report on the version, so it could be similar to RCN’s initial deployment where it was the newer software but with the HD UI disabled. Still, no HD UI is a drawback when DirecTV’s own DVRs now have it. And, as you can see in the document, the THR22 lacks many features now standard in other DirecTV DVRs, such as multi-room viewing. And, adding insult to injury, even YouTube is not supported – something TiVo had long before DirecTV added it to their own units.

Still, it is a TiVo option for DirecTV users, and it is certainly better than the old DirecTiVo units still limping along after all these years. So for those who’ve been holding out for a new TiVo option for DirecTV, this will likely be a welcome release. But for customers who aren’t already in the TiVo fold, I don’t think this will win over many converts. Especially not with the additional $5/month fee.

Spotted via InvestorVillage.

• DirecTV will finally release the new THR22 DirecTiVo in “early December”.
• Charter will be launching retail “very soon”.
• Comcast OnDemand support is in field trials now.

I think the DirecTiVo news is the most anticipated, so in TiVo’s own words:

Additionally, DirecTV has informed us that they intend to initiate the launch of the TiVo-DIRECTV product in select markets in December with a nationwide rollout to follow early next year.

Still, don’t set your expectations too high. We know the new DirecTiVo is based on the old HR22 DVR and it will lack a number of features found in the current DirecTV DVRs. DirecTV really doesn’t seem to want to release it, but they’re obligated to do so. They’re clearly focused on their in-house units with their five-tuner DVR, new HD UI, and whole-home support.

In other news, TiVo has had their first increase in total subscriptions in four years – adding 117,000 subscribers compared to a 33,000 loss last quarter. This is mainly thanks to Virgin Media’s runaway success, but also growth from RCN & Suddenlink. With ONO, Grande Communications, and Charter coming online, and the new DirecTiVo finally shipping, the MSO subscribers will become even more significant going forward. And TiVo indicated further MSO deals are pending, with TiVo having responded to several Request for Proposals.

Conversely, the retail side continues to slide. They added 30,000 new subscribers, but lost 60,000 old ones – for a 30k net loss. MSOs actually added 147,000 – the lower 117,000 net add is due to this loss. The good news is the new subscribers are worth more to TiVo as the higher monthly fees increase revenue per customer. If & when Comcast launches VOD support on TiVo and provides some marketing and free installations, as promised, it may help the retail numbers. But it seems clear the MSO side of the house is going to be the real growth engine.

Oh, there was one other interesting point. Rogers mentioned that most of TiVo’s development now serves both MSO & retail. They’re building a common code base for all platforms, MSO and retail, to better leverage their R&D spending. In the past the two sides operated pretty much independently. Remember the soft-TiVo product for Comcast & Cox was a completely new Java code base. While retail boxes remained on the conventional development path. Now MSO & retail units will be running common, if not identical, software and hardware will also be shared.

We’re already seeing that with the TiVo Premiere Q for MSOs and TiVo Premiere Elite for retail. It is basically the same box with a different hard drive capacity. And the 14.x software used by MSOs, such as RCN, and the retail units is from a common base. This means that any feature TiVo develops can be released to retail and offered to their MSO partners simultaneously – contractual issues permitting of course. (See Netflix being unavailable on MSO units.) It is also makes things more efficient, you don’t need two development teams both implementing the same thing on different platforms. Even the software for Virgin Media and ONO, which runs on third party hardware, appears to be from the common code base.

One thing I was hoping to hear, but didn’t, was news on the TiVo Preview coming to retail. I really want this and it is annoying that it is available to MSOs but not retail. It is the perfect companion to the TiVo Premiere Elite.

Overall though, I thought it was a pretty good quarter.

Some of the features, as listed by Solid Signal:

• The DIRECTV THR22 supports 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i picture resolution outputs and multiple screen formats.
• New DIRECTV Reciever with TiVo
• Pause live TV for up to 90 minutes and use rewind, instant replay and slow motion on live or recorded TV
• Does not have built in ATSC tuner
• HDMI cable included
• 500gb Hard Drive Allows up to 100 Hours of MPEG4 HD or 400 Hours of SD
• The DIRECTV THR22 includes two satellite tuners for access to SD and HD DIRECTV programming
• Access Card and Remote Control included
• Compatible with Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) Systems
• Record up to 400 hrs of SD, up to 100 hours of HD (MPEG-4) programming
• Watch whatever you want on your own schedule. Store your favorite programs, whether standard-definition or high-definition.

So it looks like the new DirecTiVo really is coming soon.

But, IMHO, the real big news came at the 08:01 mark when Tom said:“Our deal with DirecTV is moving toward launch with the DirecTV TiVo HD DVR now being manufactured. And we expect DirecTV to publicly share specific launch details in the relatively near future.” I know we’ve had numerous release date promises in the past, but DirecTV isn’t going to begin manufacturing hardware if they don’t have pretty damn solid plans to release it. Perhaps the new HD DVR DirecTV obliquely referred to on their recent financial call really was the new DirecTiVo after all.

Later in the call, during the Q&A session at the 42:26 mark Rogers talks a bit about the agreement with DirecTV including the“significant marketing obligations” DirecTV has once the new unit launches. He added that DirecTV will“have plenty of incentive to market based on those obligations.”

And finally, at the 46:42 mark he is asked about the 08:01 statement regarding the new DirecTiVo being in manufacturing, specifically if that means the code had been accepted. In response Rogers stated:“…the boxes are in the manufacturing process with our code having been delivered…” So it sounds like things really are, finally, moving forward to release and based on the statements on the call I think we’ll see the units released this year.

I’m not going to place a bet on it though. Not just yet.

As for the financial results in general, TiVo’s MSO business is starting to show positive results.

                                TIVO INC.
                               OTHER DATA

                                                      Three Months Ended
Subscriptions                                              July 31,
                                                     --------------------
            (Subscriptions in thousands)                2011       2010
                                                     ---------  ---------
TiVo-Owned Subscription Gross Additions:                    25         32        

        Subscription Net Additions/(Losses):
TiVo-Owned                                                 (43)       (48)
MSOs/Broadcasters                                           10        (77)
                                                     ---------  ---------
  Total Subscription Net Additions/(Losses)                (33)      (125)
Cumulative Subscriptions:
TiVo-Owned                                               1,165      1,366
MSOs/Broadcasters                                          763      1,018
                                                     ---------  ---------
  Total Cumulative Subscriptions                         1,928      2,384
% of TiVo-Owned Cumulative Subscriptions paying
 recurring fees                                             57%        56%

So while they continue to bleed TiVo-owned subs, losing a net 43,000 this quarter – which was down from a loss of 48,000 a year earlier, the MSO subs grew by a net 10,000. That’s an improvement of 87,000 from the loss of 77,000 subs a year earlier. I’m sure a lot of that reversal is due to Virgin Media alone adding over 50,000 subscribers, with the rest contributed by RCN, Suddenlink, & TiVo in ANZ and likely reduced losses from DirecTV. Also a positive, the average revenue per MSO subscriber increased from $1.20 a year ago to $1.94. Clearly the new subscribers are worth more to TiVo.

Update: While I was writing up this post, Dave Zatz also posted at Zatz Not Funny. The biggest piece of evidence is this new DirecTV training video which DBSTalk members noticed, and that Engadget obtained and posted:

Unfortunately the video confirms some of the earlier rumored information. It does look like the hardware is similar to the old HR-22 DirecTV DVR. The video confirms that the units do not support multi-room viewing. They do support networking and other DirecTV network-based features, so whole home support could theoretically be added via a software update. And the UI appears to be the old SD UI, as first reported a couple of years back. There had been some hope that all of the delays meant the unit had been updated. On the other hand, the new box appears to come with the same remote as the TiVo Premiere.

Furthermore, Zatz Not Funny received an anonymous comment claiming the new units will be delivered on 9/25/11. Though perhaps there is another model in the pipeliine, as rumored at DBSTalk.

No such luck. There was no mention of TiVo by name. So, time to try to read the tea leaves.

There were some oblique references to a new DVR rolling out in the fall – fortunately Morningstar has a transcript to make things easy.

Michael White – Chairman, President and CEO: I think the Nomad product which is the ability to port your content from your DVR onto you iPad, I expect you’ll see that in some geographies before the end of the year. We’re probably going to do it in a fewer geographies to make sure that its working flawlessly, before we’d roll it out fully, so roll out might be in 2012. But you’ll see that before the end of the year. The high-definition user interface comes in the fourth quarter. We’ll also I would expect to be streaming Pay Per View and premium channels on My DIRECTV.com probably in the fourth quarter, I think we’re expecting or going to launch the whole media center which will have a kind of high-end DVR or new subs in the fourth quarter as well. So, we’ve got a lot of things that I feel pretty good about that will roll into the fourth quarter, albeit and I think you’ll see more of the benefits of that probably in 2012 than in 2011 in terms of the acceleration of momentum.
…
We certainly know from history that advanced products in general, we do see a lower churn rate on our advanced products when we go on basic or standard (desk) customers. So, if history is any guide then, I’m pretty confident and I also think that the quality of the experience and I think that’s where we’ve got probably still some more work to do to fill in some more VOD content and really with the HD user interface really make that experience pop for the consumer. I think, we’re bringing Pandora into it. We’re doing a bunch of things to make it just an absolutely knock your socks off experience for customer. As I said, we’re already getting more than we had planned in ARPU lift out of those customers. So, I feel great about the connected box strategy, I think we’re just working through some of the operational things.

The Nomad product we’ve heard of before, though details seem to be sparse. It is apparently a unit that works with your DirecTV receiver/DVR to transcode content into a format usable on portable devices.

Now, the high definition UI and media center with high-end DVR, could that be an advanced TiVo box? We know Technicolor is providing the HW for the new DirecTiVo. And we know that TiVo and Technicolor last year entered into an agreement to produce an advanced DVR. Could the DirecTiVo project been taken in a new direction, accounting for some of the long delay? What about the mention of Pandora? TiVo supports Pandora, but they’re not the only TV/DVR platform that does – FiOS does as well. So it isn’t inconceivable that DirecTV could be adding Pandora to their own STBs, but it could also be TiVo.

OK, basically no one knows and there is nothing clear from this call. Could this be the long awaited DirecTiVo, bigger and badder than anything we expected? Yes, it could. Could this be a completely different box, continuing the evolution of their non-TiVo DVRs? Yes, it could. Anyone who knows for sure is probably under NDA and at this point I don’t have much faith in the leaks we’ve seen. Most of them are so old that too much could’ve changed, if they were accurate in the first place.

So it looks like something is coming out later this year, but we won’t know what it is until it releases – or there is a substantial leak in the meantime. Frankly, at this point, I don’t think I’d believe anything about the DirecTiVo until it was on shelves and in consumers’ hands. If the new high-end, HD UI DVR turns out not to be a DirecTiVo, I would take that as a bad sign in respect to the likelihood of the DirecTiVo ever being released.

So as we approached late 2010 DirecTV delayed the new DirecTiVo again, this time to ‘early 2011′. The explanation at the time was that they didn’t want to launch a new product into the channel just before the holidays. OK, I guess I can see that. A lot of retailers lock down holidays plans months in advance, and if DirecTV waited too long they wouldn’t have any shelf space allocated for the new units. You want to launch a new product in time for the holidays, not during the holiday shopping season – and product launches start months ahead of when consumers see the product.

Of course, ‘early 2011′ has come and gone, and clearly the new DirecTiVo has yet to arrive. At some point ‘early 2011′ morphed into ’2011′, and qualifiers like ‘hopeful’ started to show up. There was even some recent speculation that the new DirecTiVo might ship this month.

However, those hopes appear to be dashed. Now the DirecTV FAQ page for the new DirecTiVo says they are ‘optimistic’ that it will be available for purchase in 2011, but also that it has not yet been approved for production.

Will DIRECTV offer a new TiVo HD DVR?

We continue our partnership with TiVo to develop a new TiVo HD DVR from DIRECTV. The launch date is still to be determined, pending production approval. Product development is a complex exercise, and TiVo and DIRECTV are jointly committed to providing our customers with the high quality products we are both known for.

We apologize that the process has taken longer than anticipated. Once the product is approved for production, we will communicate a target launch date. We are optimistic that the new TiVo HD DVR from DIRECTV will be available for purchase in calendar year 2011.

For now we can tell you that the new TiVo HD DVR will have:

• Access to over 160 HD channels
• DIRECTV CINEMA™, with thousands of shows and movies to watch instantly
• TiVo Integrated Search across TV and Video on Demand
• TiVo WishList® Searches, Suggestions and KidZone
• DIRECTV DVR Scheduler

Personally that doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Now, I want to make an important point here – I don’t think this is TiVo’s fault. A lot of people have complained at/to TiVo about the delays, but they’re not in control. Remember this is a DirecTV product, not a TiVo product! TiVo is a supplier and contractor to DirecTV for this. Unlike the original DirecTiVo boxes, the new unit is not based on a TiVo-designed reference platform. It was previously announced that the hardware will be supplied by Technicolor (formerly known as Thomson), and TiVo is integrating their software with the platform under contract to DirecTV.

DirecTV controls the schedule, they control the product specifications, they decide on the features, they control the budget, etc. For a while now TiVo has been mentioning the new box on their quarterly calls and clearly stating that they hope DirecTV will decide to release it soon, but that the decision rests with DirecTV. On the most recent call TiVo’s CEO, Tom Rogers, stated that there was continuing work to implement new features for the product and he was hopeful it would ship in 2011.

There have been rumors and reports that the DirecTiVo is already out of date, that DirecTV’s specs for the unit were set in 2008 and in the meantime they’ve added a number of features to their non-TiVo DVRs (in-home sharing, etc.) which wouldn’t be on the DirecTiVo. A long time ago now it was reported that the new DirecTiVo would use the old, SD TiVo UI and not the new HD UI. Even that the hardware was based on the old HR22 DirecTV DVR. I have some hope that TiVo’s statements, and the continuing delays, mean they’ve taken steps to update the product specs to launch a truly competitive product when it comes to market. Who knows which of the old reports are still true given the time that has passed, of if the were even accurate to start with.

Of course, no one but the insiders knows the truth, and they’re not talking. But I think there is some pretty strong circumstantial evidence that TiVo isn’t the cause of the delay. Since the announcement in 2008 TiVo designed the TiVo Premiere and brought it to market. They integrated OnDemand support into the software, and launched the platform with MSOs RCN & Suddenlink. They announced their deal with Virgin Media and have very successfully launched with them in the UK – and I’ll note that’s also on non-TiVo-designed hardware, the box is from Cisco. They have similar deals with other MSOs, like ONO in Spain, using the same HW as the UK.

They’ve also designed the TiVo Premiere Elite and TiVo Preview, and those appear to be headed to market later this year. At least through MSOs, if not also via retail.

So TiVo has repeatedly shown that they can successfully execute new products in the time since the new DirecTiVo deal was announced. It doesn’t seem logical that they’d be able to execute all of these other projects, and yet would be unable to complete the new DirecTiVo. And, if the reports are true, the Technicolor HW isn’t a radical change from STBs they already produce. So I don’t think the problem is the HW. Or even the integration of the SW & HW.

My feeling, based on what I know and my experience in the tech industry, is that the delays are due to the project coordinator – DirecTV. The best case scenario is that it is a case of creeping featurism; they keep extending the product specifications and have to add more development time to meet the new goals. The worst case is that it is just management decisions and they’re delaying the product without using the time to continuously improve it. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

In any case, it isn’t what those waiting for the new DirecTiVo want to hear. At this point they just want a shipping box. Hopefully one that avoids the Duke Nuke’m Forever syndrome – waiting forever and getting a product that makes you wonder why you bothered waiting

For all of you waiting for the box, this is exactly why you want the FCC to push AllVid on the satellite companies. If they had to open up to third parties, as cable had to do with CableCARD, vendors like TiVo could produce compatible products on their own schedule, not the satellite company’s.

Just over a year ago TiVo and DirecTV announced that they’d be bringing additional software updates to the existing DirecTiVo units. That arrived earlier this year as 6.4a, showing that the relationship was still alive. The one cloud of doubt was in December when DirecTV acquired the remains of ReplayTV.

But then Liberty Media completed their acquisition of News Corp’s share of DirecTV in March, raising hopes. With News Corp out of the picture, NDS was no longer ‘in the family’. And Liberty Media is an investor in TiVo, giving them some incentive to have DirecTV work with TiVo again.

And today TiVo announced that a new TiVo-based HD DVR is being developed for DirecTV. Actually, from the language of the press release, I suspect it is a software load for DirecTV’s existing HR20 & HR21 HD DVRs, and not a new hardware platform.

Under the terms of the non-exclusive arrangement, DIRECTV and TiVo will work together to develop a version of the TiVo® service for DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. The product will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone. TiVo will develop the new HD DVR for an expected launch in the second half of 2009.

The phrasing “a version of the TiVo service for DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform” makes me think that it will be similar to the platform developed for Comcast and Cox, software that can be loaded on the existing units. Since DirecTV doesn’t have an OCAP/tru2way-style platform, it would probably be a new software load which would replace the default system software. Alternatively it could be a new box developed from the TiVo HD platform, we know the DVB-T reference box could also form the basis of a DVB-S satellite unit, and a DBS unit would be similar.

And it also seems to make more sense in context:

DIRECTV will continue to develop and offer its own portfolio of industry leading set top boxes as primary offerings to both new and existing customers. This new TiVo box will be offered as an alternative choice to those DIRECTV customers who would like to add TiVo to a full line up of DIRECTV services.

This also sounds like Comcast, with TiVo being a premium alternative to the standard DVR. But it would be very expensive for DirecTV to maintain two hardware DVR platforms – manufacturing, maintaining inventory, support, etc. So it makes more sense for them to have one platform that they can load different environments on. It could still be a hardware platform, I just don’t think it is as likely.

In any case, the new platform will be available in the second half of 2009, and“The product will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo’s Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone.” The release doesn’t go into detail over which features will or will not be supported, but since DirecTV has their own video on demand service I’d bet that services such as Amazon Unbox, Jaman, and CinemaNow will not be making appearances on the new DirecTV platform. Pricing will be announced with the product launch next year.

What isn’t addresses is the current DirecTiVo platform. Does the announcement of a new platform which embraces the TiVo network features mean that the existing platform’s USB ports will finally be enabled for network support? Both the hardware and the software are capable of supporting network features on par with the standalone Series2 TiVo, and the only thing preventing it to date has been DirecTV’s business decision. Since they’re clearly ready to support network features, I do hope that their existing loyal (and long suffering) customers get some support as well.

Also, in an SEC filing, TiVo revealed that their general partnership with DirecTV has been extended five more years, from February 15, 2010 until February 15, 2015, with DirecTV having the right to extend it another three years, to February 15, 2018. While the specific financial terms of the new agreement have not been revealed, the filing has this to say:

As part of this new agreement, DIRECTV will pay a substantially higher monthly fee for households using the new high definition DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo than the fees for previously deployed DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo service. DIRECTV will continue to pay the current monthly fee for all households using only the previously deployed DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo service. The fees paid by DIRECTV are subject to monthly minimum payments that escalate during the term of the agreement starting in 2010 and those minimum payments are substantially higher than in the prior agreement.

So subscribers using the new platform will be worth more to TiVo, and they have a guaranteed minimum level of revenue, which gives DirecTV some incentive to sign up subscribers fro the new platform. If they’re going to have to pay the fees anyway they may as well have clients using it. And if that isn’t enough:

DIRECTV is also obligated to annual marketing commitments, including significant cross-channel promotion of the high definition DIRECTV DVR with TiVo service to be developed by TiVo.

It sounds like a good deal for TiVo and DirecTV both. They also agreed to extend their covenant not to assert their patent rights against each other. Which could be why DirecTV picked up ReplayTV, as I speculated at the time. Holding ReplayTV’s DVR patents gives DirecTV a stronger hand when dealing with TiVo and their patents. The agreement extension also covers TiVo’s ability to sell advertising and perform audience measurement activities on DirecTV’s DVRs with TiVo service.

Today is a good day for fans of TiVo and DirecTV – but it will be an even better day when it ships next year.

Unfortunately, that seems to be it. While some were hoping the update would activate the USB ports and networking, that doesn’t seem to be the case. So the DirecTiVo units still lack many of the features of standalone TiVos.

We believe the new DTV management may be more amenable to renewing a relationship with TiVo. The TiVo HD-DVR offers several advantages over the NDS DVRs, including better user interface, wireless access can provide quasi-VOD service, ad revs would be incremental, and TiVo’s HD-DVR is already cheaper than NDS’ HD-DVR.

We already know that the TiVo HD platform has been designed to serve as a basis for further development. And the DVB-T reference platform, which is TiVo HD derived and forms the basis for the Australian unit, is also capable of being modified for DVB-S – another satellite system. It is logical to believe that the TiVo HD could also be readily modified to be a new DirecTiVo.

TiVo and DirecTV still have a working relationship, TiVo is working on updated software for the current DirecTiVos. And Liberty Media is one of TiVo’s corporate investors, so it certainly makes sense that they would want to throw business in TiVo’s direction. Just as News Corp shifted DirecTV’s DVRs to NDS, as News Corp also owns NDS. Keeping it in the family is a better return on investment.

This is certainly not the first time the rumor has come up since the Liberty Media buy was first announced. DirecTV’s recent acquisition of ReplayTV casts a small cloud on the matter, but it still seems like that buy was for the patents. The patents would give DTV some protection from lawsuits, such as the one TiVo brought against DISH Network, as well as giving them some more leverage in negotiations with other vendors.

EDIT: As I was writing this post I meant to mention that TiVo is participating in the Bear Stearns 21st Annual Media Conference on March 11, 2008. I just plain forgot to include that tidbit somehow.

Online go to directv.com/tvlistings, from a mobile phone visit m.directv.com.

The web pages refer to the DirecTV Plus DVR and the DirecTV Plus HD DVR, which is bad news for DirecTiVo owners, right? Not according to the FAQ. See item number 8:

Does this work with my DIRECTV TiVo?

No, but it will work with certain DIRECTV Series 2 devices soon.

This is part of the DirecTiVo software update announced last July for an ‘early 2008′ release. One of the features mentioned at the time was ‘Remote Booking’, as DirecTV was then calling it. Other known features will be the Recently Deleted folder and Overlap Protection, which standalone TiVo owners have enjoyed for some time.

One drawback to DirecTV’s system is that it is one-way. The recording request is sent via satellite, and there is no confirmation that the request was received and acted upon by the DVR. So there’s no interactive conflict resolution, not even in a delayed fashion like TiVo, let alone real-time, just what’s built into the unit (see FAQ #19). Yet another reason why they really should make more use of broadband connectivity. Even without it they could trigger a phone call home to confirm receipt and status.

Via EngadgetHD.