Tivo’s PSP, iPod Support Draws Industry Fire

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Earlier this week TiVo announced that its TiVoToGo service, which allows owners of Series 2 TiVos to transfer shows to laptops and select mobile devices, will be expanded to support downloading of shows to the iPod and Sony’s PSP. Support is planned for the first quarter of 2006, with the necessary software available for a low one-time fee (rumors have noted a price between 15 and 30 dollars).

Industry response was swift … and harsh. And who didn’t expect it? Immediately after the video iPod was announced ABC and Apple announced their download deal. Since then, NBC, through DirecTV, and CBS, via Comcast, have announced plans to sell downloads of previously aired shows. The Tivo announcement would allow people to (gasp) take shows they have previously recorded on their PVRs and download them to iPods and PSPs.

“TiVo appears to be acting unilaterally, disregarding established rights of content owners to participate in decisions regarding the distribution and exploitation of their content,” an NBC Universal spokesman said. “This unilateral action creates the risk of legal conflict instead of contributing to the constructive exploitation of digital technology that can rapidly provide new and exciting experiences for the consumer.”

But others saw TiVo’s move as more a sign of opportunities to come than a threat.

“In addition to focusing on the legal issues, it’s also important to focus on the fact that consumers are saying this is the kind of thing they want,” noted Kevin Tsujihara, prexy of the Warner Bros. home entertainment group. “We’re excited about the fact that people are buying portable devices and are looking for video content on them. It’s potentially a huge market for us.” Source: Variety

We Say: Let’s remember we’re talking about downloading the shows to an iPod and a PSP, which doesn’t get me all that excited anyway. One thing that stood out from the NBC announcement was “exploitation of their content.” Exploitation?

In my opinion, if I paid for the service (Tivo + whatever), once the show reaches my PVR’s hard drive, I should be able to do whatever I want with it, short of copying and selling it. If I want to download it to a PSP and hand it to my friend, how is that any different, really, than video taping an HBO episode of say “Rome” and handing the tape to my friend? I really don’t see anything wrong with either. I do see that the networks see this as a new market, with a huge potential for revenue. I expect lawyers to be getting involved very soon.