• by Paul Gough , January 9, 2004

TiVo came out swinging for its future this week, rejecting characterizations of being a one-trick pony that would wither and die as generic digital video recorders (DVR) become ubiquitous and such services become commoditized.

The first step in that strategy was a patent-infringement lawsuit TiVo filed earlier this week against EchoStar, claiming the satellite TV provider hijacked TiVo's intellectual property when it developed its own digital video recorder. TiVo unveiled the second part of its strategy in a more familiar place, this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"The DVR for us is really the beginning" and not the end of TiVo, Mike Ramsay, chairman and chief executive officer of the company. He acknowledged that some observers felt that TiVo might have made its greatest impact with the introduction of the DVR and that, as cable and satellite providers roll out their own services, that it's the end of the line for the company. But he rejected that scenario, saying that the TiVo revolution was more than just the DVR.

"The DVR is like the browser. It's what you do with it, not the end in itself," Ramsay said.

Announcing a new initiative he called "TiVo Your Life," Ramsay said that TiVo's strategy would include its previously announced efforts (such as the home-networking option) and offer new capabilities for TiVo in the areas of DVD recording and a high-definition DVR in a deal with DirecTV.

It all leads to TiVo positioning itself as the center of entertainment in the home, not just a set-top like box that lets you record programs digitally.

"These are some products and service announcements that truly takes us beyond DVR. We're doing it in a way that really deserves the fundamentals of what makes TiVo great: Great entertainment, ease of use, consumer friendly and a real and positive lifestyle impact," Ramsay said.

TiVo is also betting on the digital future, extending the company's usefulness beyond the digital recording of televisions to include broadband, digital photography and music. TiVo's plan is to preserve the ease of use in all those applications as it has in television, Ramsay said.

Another innovation: TiVo To Go, which provides a secure way of moving content from the TiVo to personal computers and even DVD burning.

"The coolness factor of this is off the charts," Ramsay said.