TiVo's President Resigns>

Move Follows Decision By CEO> To Step Down From DVR Pioneer> Associated Press> February 1, 2005 3:06 p.m.>

TiVo Inc. said Tuesday Marty Yudkovitz has resigned as president,> marking the second major executive change in recent weeks at the> embattled digital video recording company.>

Monday's resignation of Mr. Yudkovitz, an NBC executive who joined> TiVo in May 2003, comes after Chief Executive Mike Ramsay said last> month he would be stepping down from the helm as soon as a replacement> is found.>

Mr. Yudkovitz, who said he was leaving for personal reasons, will> remain on for a period of time as a consultant for certain matters,> the company said. No replacement was named.>

Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo, founded in 1997 by Mr. Ramsay and Jim> Barton, the company's chief technology officer, helped introduce> digital video recorders to consumers in 1999, and has since become the> industry's leading brand name.>

But others are fast encroaching, namely cable and satellite operators> which are introducing their own digital recording features in their> set-top-boxes. Digital video recording is also being built into> media-oriented computers and other consumer electronics devices like> DVD recorders or televisions themselves.>

The number of TiVo subscribers has steadily grown -- it accounts for> about a third of the estimated 6.5 million of the nation's households> that have DVRs -- but the company has not yet reached sustained> profitability. It hopes to do so by the end of 2005.>

Mr. Yudkovitz, a 20-year television industry veteran who played a key> role in creating CNBC and MSNBC, which are owned by General Electric> Co., was recruited by TiVo to help build closer ties with Hollywood,> which has largely been rankled by copyright concerns stemming from> digital video recording.>

During his tenure, Mr. Yudkovitz evangelized new ways advertisements> could be integrated in a television world of mostly ad-skipping> viewers. He also helped build TiVo's fledgling business of audience> measurement, in which the company would sell data indicating how TiVo> users were watching TV, Mr. Ramsay said in an interview.>

Mr. Ramsay, who will remain as chairman of the board after his own> successor is found, said Yudkovitz's resignation would not affect the> company's plans or new strategies.>

Mr. Yudkovitz, 50 years old, said he had a heavy commute between both> coasts and that he chose a "logical time" to resign and spend more> time with family.>

He said he was on a list of potential candidates to succeed Mr. Ramsay> but decided to withdraw himself from the running, removing the> prospect of relocating his wife and two young children from> Connecticut.>

"If I'm not going to be CEO, I may as well put an end to it," Mr.> Yudkovitz said in an interview, adding that his resignation coincided> with the last day of the company's fiscal year.>

Analysts say the dual executive departures reflect the difficult phase> TiVo faces as it tries to reshape itself and grow amid stiffening> competition from deep-pocketed rivals.>

"It looks like both the CEO and president are saying, 'We've taken the> company as far as we can, and let's find somebody who can take TiVo to> the next level,'" said April Horace, an analyst at Janco Partners Inc.>

Failing to win major distribution partners in the cable industry and> having lost its exclusive digital recording supplier stance with> satellite provider DirecTV Group Inc., TiVo is seeking to raise the> profile of its independent "standalone" products.>

It lowered the price on a unit to $99 last year and allocated $50> million for marketing and advertising. Last month, the company> introduced TiVoToGo, a long-awaited service feature that lets> subscribers transfer programs from their TiVo units to their> computers. The company also announced plans for a new unit that will> use a cable card, which will eliminate the need for an additional> cable set-top box.>

On Monday, the company said it will invite third-party developers to> create software for TiVo users, hoping to draw an expanded set of> media applications, such as music and photo services, even video> games.>

Remember, DDB sat on the HMO hack for Dtivos until Tivo made it free> for SAs.

If Tivo (the company) dies (and DirecTV has a contract with them up> until 2007, so I expect support until then) the hacker community will> take over.>

Hacks already exist to enable the box to work without a subscription.> They haven't been made public for the most part, but they're out there.> If I lost support tomorrow I guarantee you that you'd find a way to> make it run and get guide data on DDB within a day.>

Remember, DDB sat on the HMO hack for Dtivos until Tivo made it free> for SAs. As soon as this happened they released it. The same thing> will happen if Tivo disappears.>

So I'm not worried. I doubt I'll be using the same hardware in a few> years, anyway. My HDVR2 cost me 50 bucks. It does everything I want> it to.>

Well... they released the HMO hack for DTiVos, but to limit people

people with SAs don't run 4.0, they run 4.0.x (in my case,

--> Lenroc

Lenroc wrote:>> On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 15:42:47 -0800, relaxification wrote:>>

I was under the impression that HMO is now free if you have a> standalone. Why would you need the HMO hack if you already have it,> fully supported?

Well... they released the HMO hack for DTiVos, but to limit people> with SAs from using it, they only released it for 4.0. The thinking> was the people with SAs don't run 4.0, they run 4.0.x (in my case,> 4.0.1b-02-2-240).

Who's "they"? And what does this do? I've got a DTiVo (unhacked).

you're slipping up... you forgot your dead company .sig>

<relaxification@ho­tmail.com> wrote in message news:1107301367.185­849.67790@z14g2000cw­z.googlegroups.com..­.>> Here's the thing you don't understand, Sean. I love my Dtivo. It's>> fully hacked (extraction, etc) and works beautifully.>>

Your DirecTV DVR will continue to work as long as DirecTV keeps the tiers>on your access card from expiring. Once DirecTV deactivates the card, >or lets the authorization tiers expire it's all over.

But as Dtv adds HD channels to their new sattellites will your DTVTivo> be able to get them?>

Sean