TeleVISION

TiVo
1999 Annual Report

Hello. Welcome to TiVo

Hi. And thanks for tuning in. For the next 10 minutes or so, we’d like to show you what the future of television entertainment is all about. We don’t mean fancier TV sets or brighter, sharper pictures. We’re talking about an entirely new vision of TV. And, more importantly, a whole new perspective on it.

Yours.

That’s right. You have just entered the era of Personal TV. Enjoy the show.

We now return control of your television to you.

The TiVolution of television.
Back in the twentieth century, when TV was still in its technological infancy, there were two realities for television viewers: either they didn’t have enough programming choices, or they had too many. In either case, what they didn’t have was control.

Think about it. For almost forty years, the only available programs were those that the three broadcast networks had to offer. And then, in an explosion of content made possible largely by the introduction of cable, the television industry added hundreds of new channels, better (and worse) programs, and more targeted entertainment.

Presented with this new abundance of riches — a menu of thousands of program options daily — what was the late twentieth-century citizen to do? How could it be possible to fit an inconvenient, overloaded, must-watch TV schedule into an extremely busy lifestyle?

Enter TiVo.

Welcome to the future. Available today.
By offering an entirely new and wider spectrum of choices — and by managing and delivering it efficiently — the TiVo Service literally changes the way viewers experience their old friend, the TV.

That’s because the TiVo Service puts television viewers back in total control. Whether enjoyed by a soccer parent with job and family responsibilities to juggle, a busy professional with no room for events that don’t fit into a tight schedule, or merely someone with more free time to watch TV, TiVo turns the tables on the way life used to be.

Put simply, TiVo gives viewers the choice and convenience that allow them to watch what they want, when they want it — regardless of the kind of TV delivery system they have: cable, antenna, or satellite. The result is a truly lifestyle-altering experience, in which people are in control of their entertainment habits, instead of the other way around. Just what one would expect of true, 21st-century TV technology.

When you add it all up, it’s more than just the personalization of TV.

It’s the complete TiVolution of television.

TV your way.

Building a new Golden Era of TV. Yours.
If we pay attention to the cultural shifts occurring today in our society — many due in no small part to technology — we see that individuals are becoming empowered as never before. Empowered to get the information they need to make better decisions. Empowered to influence the design of new products and services. In short, empowered to make their lives better.

At TiVo, this is precisely what we do for people who watch TV. We envision many different applications for the future TiVo Service experience. Consider this one: the game isn’t quite over, but you’ve got to leave. You hit the TiVo remote to continue recording, and then pop the portable TiVo device and slide it into your pocket as you bound out the door.

Once in your car, you place the device in the car’s TiVo recorder, and immediately begin sifting through your personalized playlist of favorite music delivered from the TiVo Service. Errands done, you’re back at home, TiVo remote in hand, catching the end of the most spectacular sporting event you ever saw.

At TiVo, we are preparing for an entertainment future that is unlike anything we might have dreamed of even a few short years ago. Thanks to our unique, open-architecture systems platform, the TiVo-enabled television of the future will actually be a portal into a realm of new devices, services, and content that promises to change the way we interact with all forms of entertainment.

In addition to personalized music, we expect that interactive games are not far off on the Personal TV horizon, either. Nor is access to the web, thanks to our relationships with AOL TV and Liberate Technologies. Or true video on demand, as a result of our partnership with Blockbuster. Or even other services.

The era of Personal Television is here. Together with our partners in the entertainment, manufacturing, and distribution fields, TiVo represents a unique combination of media and technology — a powerful alliance of strategy and culture that’s out to put the vision back in television, by changing, quite simply, the way the world watches TV.

Thanks for watching. See you next time.