Around two decades ago, TiVo was introduced, which changed the way people watched TV. Before TiVo, people were bound to be present in front of their televisions at a fixed time to watch a certain show.
It wasn’t until 1999 that someone actually thought of freeing people from these shackles of fixed timings and giving them the freedom to watch whatever they wanted to at the time that suited them the best.
History of TiVo
In 1999, Mike Ramsay and Jim Barton developed TiVo through their corporation called “Teleworld.” The name of this corporation was later changed to TiVo Inc. Initially, the duo had only planned to form a home network kind of device; however, they redesigned it and turned it into a device that would record the digitized videos on a hard disk.
The first public trial for TiVo was initiated in 1998 in the Bay Area, San Francisco. In January 1999, the duo exhibited the device at the Consumer Electronics Show and announced that the first version of the device would be shipped in “Q1,” which was 31st of March 1999. This day was also a blue moon, and that’s why the engineering staff of TiVo named the first version of TiVo DVR “Blue Moon.”
The first TiVo DVR could compress and digitize analog videos from sources such as cable, antenna, or direct broadcast satellites. TiVo Corporation had also incorporated the DVR system in set-top boxes as well.
By the end of 2000, DSR6000 was introduced by Philips’s electronics. DSR6000 was the first DirecTV receiver, along with an integrated TiVo DVR. This newly updated device was named “DirecTiVo,” and it could store directly store the digital signals on a hard disk.
In 2004, the famous Super Bowl halftime show incident of Janet Jackson became the most recorded, watched, and replayed video in the history of TiVo.
By 2008, TiVo had reached Australia, and later on, a 320GB TiVo device was also introduced there. By November 2009, TiVo was available for New Zealand citizens as well.
In April 2016, TiVo was acquired by Rovi for 1.1 billion dollars. And in December 2019, the announcement of TiVo merging with the Xperi Corporation was made, and this merging was completed by May 2020.
TiVo and its Impact
TV is considered the most favorite entertainment source in America, even today. However, before the internet, TV kept people updated about the trends, pop culture, and literally every other news. Reportedly, 98% of American households have at least one television; some even have more than one. It shows how important watching TV is for Americans.
During the 50s, when TV first got famous, it was seen as American pride, and having a TV set at home was like having a huge societal symbol. As time passed, TV became a major part of everyone’s life, and with so much streaming on the TV all the time, it was hard for people to figure out how to watch what they wanted at their own desired time.
Everything, including the VCR, remote controls, and cable, might have given people a sense of control over TV; however, TiVo changed this feeling completely forever.
TiVo DVRs didn’t only provide the viewers with the ease of recording their favorite shows and watching them in their free time, but they also brought challenges and a certain fear to the industry. With TiVo getting famous right after its first release, it was time for the media industry to sit down and study every aspect of TiVo that could affect the TV watching patterns and behaviors of the viewers.
The media industry was in a dilemma when TiVo DVR first became popular; they were confused whether the viewing would increase or decrease? Or wouldn’t be affected at all? The major problem was about the live TV streaming such as sports and news. This wasn’t the first time the media industry was worried about something.
Even when VCRs were introduced, there were some similar speculations; however, it didn’t have much of an issue because VCRs didn’t allow the viewers to record any show to watch later. DVRs were completely different; they were offering people options that were only a dream before that. In short, the device was a danger to the live streaming media.
If we talk about its impact on pop culture, TiVo was taken extremely positively. The new generation loved this invention as it saved them from waiting. Music and movie streaming was one thing that kept the trend going. People could listen to their favorite songs on repeat by recording them and could watch movies whenever they wanted.
Is TiVo Still Popular?
Ways of watching TV have changed over the years, and so did the popularity of TiVo. Rewinding a few years back, people were so fond of TV that they had memorized television schedules. Once TiVo had changed things for the viewers, later other technologies, such as the internet, changed everything for TiVo itself.
TiVo’s popularity went down the rail in the past few years, as most people, especially the younger generation, prefer watching almost everything on their mobile phones, laptops, or tablets. The internet allows them to find anything with just one click and watch it without downloading it.
Even though TiVo isn’t popular anymore, many people still use it and find it easier and more convenient than any other technology. The importance of TiVo today is still evident as reportedly around 10 million people still use TiVo, meaning the company isn’t going bankrupt, not yet at least. TiVo manufacturers are still anticipating around 100 million dollars every year in cost-saving.
One reason for the popularity of TiVo DVR is the better user interface that it provides and the ability to skip through several commercials at once. Other than this, whatever the internet may provide us with, TV watching TV will always be a thing, and today people have even less time than they had 2 decades ago. Most people only use TiVo to get rid of the dump of commercials that falls on them every time they are trying to watch something nice.
Moreover, TiVo also allows people to binge-watch whenever they want to without any interruptions.
Conclusion
TiVo is a great innovation in the media industry, and the truth is that nothing can take its place, not for another decade at least. It has completely changed the way we watch TV, and even if we use the internet more today, TiVo will be there to find our favorite shows, movies, news, or sports and record for us to watch later. It’s like having a best friend who does all the things for you without even letting you know about it.