Ad Age: Tivo Struggles Forward after DirecTV Divestment

While reported as related events in much of the trade press, Tivo's development of Internet connectivity probably remains unlinked to DirecTV's just-announced divestment of its Tivo holdings. DirecTV has been Tivo's biggest business partner, providing distribution for the majority of its new customer acquisitions. Tivo recently announced a series of new interactive features that makes the television it records act much more like web content, distributable around the home and downloadable to PCs.

DirecTV was recently purchased by News Corp, which owns a Tivo competitor, and speculation has been swirling since that Tivo would be replaced as the go-to digital video recorder (DVR) for DirecTV customers. The DirecTV position on Tivo's board of directors was just resigned as well, in what looks for all the world like DirecTV trying to reduce fiduciary liability before lowering the boom on the DVR company.