TiVo headquarters in the Alviso neighborhood of San Jose, California
Tivo, Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) is an American corporation whose primary product is the marketing and subscription services for its Tivo branded digital video recorder.
TiVo Inc. was incorporated on August 4, 1997 as "Teleworld, Inc." by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay, veterans of Silicon Graphics and Time Warner's Full Service Network digital video system. Originally intending to create a home network device, they later developed the idea to record digitized video on a hard disk.
Teleworld began the first public trials of the TiVo device and service in late 1998 in the San Francisco Bay area.[3] After exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1999, Mike Ramsay announced to the company that the first version of the TiVo digital video recorder would ship on March 31, 1999, despite an estimated four to five months of work remaining to complete the device.
Teleworld, Inc. renamed themselves to TiVo Inc. on July 21, 1999. TiVo Inc. made its IPO (Initial Public Offering) on September 30, 1999.[4] Its first profitable quarter was the second quarter of 2005.[5]
The original TiVo device digitized and compressed analog video from any source (antenna, cable or direct broadcast satellite). In late 2000, Philips Electronics introduced the DSR6000, the first DirecTV receiver with an integrated TiVo DVR. This new device, nicknamed the DirecTiVo, stored digital signals sent from DirecTV directly onto a hard disk.
In early 2000, TiVo partnered with electronics manufacturer Thomson Multimedia and broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting to deliver the TiVo service in the UK market.[6] This partnership resulted in the Thomson PVR10UK, a stand-alone receiver released in October 2000 that was based on the original reference design used in the United States by both Philips and Sony. TiVo ended UK sales in January 2003, though they continue to supply guide data to existing subscribed units.[7]
In June 2005, veteran media executive Tom Rogers was named president and chief executive officer of TiVo Inc.[8] Rogers, a TiVo board member since 2003, took the reins from TiVo co-founder Mike Ramsay. Under Rogers' leadership, TiVo has transformed itself from just a DVR into a complete in-home broadcast, cable and broadband media hub and an ally to the traditional media businesses with its innovative ad solutions and television measurement services.
In 2004, TiVo sued EchoStar Corp, a manufacturer of DVR units, for patent infringement. The parties reached a settlement in 2011 wherein EchoStar paid TiVo a licensing fee for its technology.
On January 19, 2010, Microsoft filed a lawsuit against TiVO, Inc. for patent infringement.[9]
TiVo, Inc. won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology in 2006.[10] TiVo will soon be used in manufacturing the new generation Virgin Media set top boxes.[11]
