The Australian Financial Review is reporting some new TiVo Australia news. Despite rumors that the Australian launch of TiVo was at risk, AFR is reporting that Seven Network still plans to launch TiVo service before their Olympics coverage begins in August. However, due to feedback from retailers such as Harvey Norman, they’ll be dropping the monthly subscription fee. Seven had planned to charge AUS$10-$12 per month, but now will be reportedly ’slashing’ that - though the new fee hasn’t been announced. The unit itself is still expected to sell for around AUS$500.

Due to the reduction in the monthly fee, Seven has had to renegotiate their deal with TiVo. That renegotiation contributed to the slip in the release date. Oddly the article also says “It is also understood Seven will not charge TiVo buyers for software upgrades for the first three years.”, which is strange since TiVo has never changed for software updates and it’d be odd for Seven to charge for them while charging a monthly fee. The original plan of using Internet telephony company Engin to handle distribution of the TiVo appears to have been dropped.

Picked up from Gizmodo Australia.

CNET Australia, responding to an article in MISAustralia / Financial Review, breaks down why they feel that the talk of Freeview in Australia is just a smoke-screen and not a real threat to Seven Network’s deployment of TiVo. The MIS/FI article certainly is full of weasel words like “understood to have said” and “is believed to have”, without citing any hard facts or sources to back up the speculative statements. It really comes across as written by someone with a bias towards Freeview, looking for an angle to pile some FUD on Seven’s TiVo plans.

CNET certainly seems to feel that way as well, breaking down the Australian DVR market and why they feel TiVo will still be a strong brand.

We’re not apologists for TiVo, but we don’t think it’s an amazing idea, given that the marketplace is going to be crowded with plenty of different options come the middle of the year — Foxtel iQ2, TiVo, IceTV, etc. We don’t think “branding” the already available EPG will make much of a difference to whether TiVo launches or not.

The Freeview board is only meeting for the first time this Friday, so their plans are still hazy. It sounds like they’re starting off with nothing more than a branding exercise. They’ll be putting the Freeview brand and logo on their existing EPG and digital channels, and only later will they be offering actual Freeview DVR hardware. It sounds like an effort to forestall adoption of TiVo, which Seven is planning to bring to market in June, as well as slow adoption of the Foxtel iQ2 DVR. Since the Freeview camp won’t have hardware to compete, they’re going to rely on pushing the brand without hardware to back it up and FUD about the competition.

Today’s Sydney Morning Herald today ran an article which provides a potentially dire outlook for TiVo in Australia, saying the whole project could be scrapped before it even comes to market.

CHANNEL SEVEN’S planned TiVo digital video recorder service could be scrapped within weeks if free-to-air broadcasters proceed with their biggest assault yet on pay television.

The free-to-air industry is likely to launch its own FreeView-branded recorder early next year that will offer access to as many as 15 free digital TV channels and an electronic program guide.

It seems the free-to-air networks in Australia are banding together to launch a service modeled after the Freeview system in the UK. The idea is to compete with pay TV services, such as Foxtel. Part of that effort would be launching a Freeview DVR in Australia, which would compete with TiVo. As Seven’s initial plans for TiVo included having other broadcasters take a stake in the TiVo service, this could put paid to those plans and cause Seven to re-evaluate the launch of TiVo.

Current assumptions are that a Freeview STBs would start below AUS$100, while TiVo is expected to be priced between AUS$300 and AUS$500, plus a subscription fee. However, as in the US where TiVo competes with less expensive cable and satellite DVRs, TiVo would offer more features.

It is possible for TiVo and Freeview to co-exist in the market, with TiVo being a more premium product. And, as the TiVo launch had earlier been pegged for this month (though there are indications that’s slipped a bit), I’d have to expect Seven has already spent most of the money needed for development, testing, and preparing the infrastructure. So they may not have much to gain by killing the launch now - that’s money spent, and launching TiVo now gives them an edge in the market. And a DVR out before the Olympics. The Freeview effort is still in early discussions, and it seems unlikely that they’d be able to bring boxes to market before the Olympics, which are expected to drive DVR adoption.

Seven Network is refusing to comment on this issue, so we’ll just have to wait and see what develops.

The Brisbane Times is reporting that Seven Media Group has overhauled senior management responsibilities in preparation for the launch of TiVo within the next eight weeks. As they report:

TiVo is on track to launch before the end of March, with user trials under way and set-top boxes likely to be stocked by chains such as Harvey Norman, Dick Smith and retailers that have existing reseller relationships with Unwired and Engin. Unwired is likely to become the operator running TiVo’s customer billing and service functions.

That’s not far off at all. I’d love to hear from anyone who is current in the Australia trials about how it is going and what you think of the service, and just which features are enabled, or missing. You can contact me directly if you’d like, or leave a comment.

Australian telco Engin, which had the exclusive rights to distribute TiVo in Australia for partner Seven Network, has relinquished those rights in light of severe financial troubles, according to Smarthouse News. While Engin retails the rights to distribute TiVo in Australia, those rights will now also be open to other companies.

In a bid to re-acquire lost money, Engin has relinquished its exclusivity rights to the US-owned TiVo pay-TV brand, which is now open to distribution by other companies. Engin originally planned to bring the TiVo hardware into the company in an exclusive deal with the US, with Engin part-owner, Seven Network Limited, providing the broadcast content.

Engin says this move will “significantly reduce the performance related risk and demands on working capital carried by Engin under the [former] TiVo distribution contract.”

According to the report, Engin is now in a better position to focus on its VoIP business, while still retaining the option to distribute TiVo as part of a Broadband triple play.

“This position materially decreases its working capital demands and will accelerate its path to profitability,” said Engin.

This seems unlikely to affect the launch of TiVo in Australia this year by Seven Network. And it could lead to wider distribution if other companies pick up distribution rights now than Engin no longer has an exclusive lock.

EDIT: I’ve seen some confused comments around the net, and I don’t know where it is coming from. It seems like some people think TiVo just lost their distributor for Australia. That is not the case. Engin will still be distributing TiVo for Seven Network, it is just that they’ve relinquished the rights to be the exclusive distributor. Engin is part owned by Seven Network, so it is unsurprising that they’ll still be distributing TiVo. But now Seven may also line up other distributors in addition to Engin.

People will panic over anything.

I guess the Australian press thinks the launch of TiVo down under is a big deal. A new article in Australian IT has a one sentence mention of TiVo: “A network executive confirmed TiVo was in alpha-testing mode.”

That’s one sentence in an article that is mostly about Seven networks new HD content and programming line-up changes. OK, sure, there is another mention in the articles sub-title: “…and early testing under way for its TiVo personal video recorder.”

The article’s title? Seven in TiVo pilot

TradingMarkets has an article on Australia’s Seven Network which includes a couple of TiVo mentions. After discussing Seven’s acquisition of WiMax provider Unwired Ltd, and the possibility of Seven acquiring WiMax provider Austar, the article goes on to say:

Seven plans to offer the TiVo digital recording service in Australia next year, and analysts believe the company is lining up a so-called `triple-play’ that would create an inexpensive pay television-style network.

WiMax spectrum could be used to deliver Seven programming into homes around the nation, with TiVo providing a platform for programming on delay.

The article goes on to quote Seven director Ryan Stokes as saying:

“The idea of offering a traditional pay service isn’t something that’s really one of our priorities, that’s not really the value of WiMax,” he said.

“We see it as being more a mobility of internet access, be that through hand held devices or laptops it provides out of home content, and really a way to provide that last mobile connection with consumers.”

While that may be true, using the WiMax network to deliver broadband content to their TiVo users certainly makes some sense, and I think it is something they’d pursue in the future, once the product is established. They’ve already indicated that they plan to provide broadband content to the Australian TiVo units. Using the ‘in house’ WiMax network as fixed wireless certainly makes some sense.