Comments on: Will Cisco Buy TiVo? http://thomashawk.com/2006/01/will-cisco-buy-tivo.html Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:09:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jeremiah http://thomashawk.com/2006/01/will-cisco-buy-tivo.html/comment-page-1#comment-16689 Jeremiah Mon, 30 Jan 2006 15:15:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/thomashawk/?p=2452#comment-16689 It makes a certain kind of sense - TIVO needs strong network infrastructure to keep all that VOD going. Additionally, sooner or later TIVO *has* to let people share content from their boxes....<br /><br />...which is where amatuer porn will save the day. In a couple of years, your (ok, not yours...mine..) TIVO's "bookmarks" will include Mrs. Cindy Fancysnatch, who will have her morning shower/show in full HD glory served from her own TIVO to yours. Or something very similar. Imagine the seediness of Yahoo webcams greatly flavored by clearer video/sound....oh, that's just my dream.<br /><br />It seems we're back to the Eden model - aka "Walled Garden". Companies like Google are building their own hardware infrastructures (and companies like Tivo are getting cozy with infrastructure players, ala Cisco) and putting (proprietary) media offerings on top of it. Verticle, verticle verticle.<br /><br />From my (myopic) perspective, there are really two major plays on the table for these companies:<br /><br />1 - Bite the bullet and simply buy one of the major media conglomerates (i.e., Time Warner.) Why spend all that time licensing all that film/tv from Warner when you can just own it?<br /><br />2 - Open the network to amatuer producers (read: porn). In a couple short months, Google Video has replaced my casual surfing of eBaum's World and its ilk, mainly because I can browse free of those annoying Flash ads.<br /><br />. It makes a certain kind of sense – TIVO needs strong network infrastructure to keep all that VOD going. Additionally, sooner or later TIVO *has* to let people share content from their boxes….

…which is where amatuer porn will save the day. In a couple of years, your (ok, not yours…mine..) TIVO’s “bookmarks” will include Mrs. Cindy Fancysnatch, who will have her morning shower/show in full HD glory served from her own TIVO to yours. Or something very similar. Imagine the seediness of Yahoo webcams greatly flavored by clearer video/sound….oh, that’s just my dream.

It seems we’re back to the Eden model – aka “Walled Garden”. Companies like Google are building their own hardware infrastructures (and companies like Tivo are getting cozy with infrastructure players, ala Cisco) and putting (proprietary) media offerings on top of it. Verticle, verticle verticle.

From my (myopic) perspective, there are really two major plays on the table for these companies:

1 – Bite the bullet and simply buy one of the major media conglomerates (i.e., Time Warner.) Why spend all that time licensing all that film/tv from Warner when you can just own it?

2 – Open the network to amatuer producers (read: porn). In a couple short months, Google Video has replaced my casual surfing of eBaum’s World and its ilk, mainly because I can browse free of those annoying Flash ads.

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