TiVo is five years old, and the hackers are having fun with the boxes that brought rewind and fast-forward to ongoing broadcasts. A number of reports last week indicated there are TiVo hacks out there to download that wreak not mischief but innovation – letting you add Web interfaces to TiVo, burn programs to DVD and other portable formats, expand a TiVo hard drive, archive programs at smaller file sizes, and even move files back and forth from a TiVo box to your computer.
TiVo itself seems to have an ambivalent attitude toward these slightly unusual hacks. While they’re said to have left a lot of features out of their boxes because of copyright concerns, they’re also believed to be gently winking at these hacks, though officially they disapprove, even while they look both to those and within their own research to find new features keeping them ahead of their peers without getting Hollywood any further into an uproar.
That may be the safe route for TiVo but it could cost the company as much as it enhances it, according to at least one programmer who has created an authorized TiVo extension known as MFS_FTP. "TiVo is missing some tremendous opportunities," said Riley Cassel. "There's no technical reason you couldn't watch TV across the Net.… Of course, the problem is that the same software can be used to broadcast HBO or Discovery HD, so Hollywood would go nuts."
Officially, TiVo enforces its terms of service but takes a basic hands-off policy against those savvy enough to hack, crack, and enhance their own or their friends’ TiVo experience. "We don't really do anything. We don't condone it and don't encourage it," said service product manager Bob Poinatowski, who said the company has yet to experience any serious backlash. "We don't really participate in any way, though we know [the hacks are] there."
It’s the customization that’s the thing, according to other digital media people who think TiVo stands in the long term to benefit from these kinds of hacks that seek not to damage or paralyze, but enhance, the TiVo experience. One particular heavyweight goes so far as to suggest TiVo and the digital broadcasting industry as a whole stands to benefit from those kinds of play.
"I think it's great for TiVo and the industry," said Mark Cuban, who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion, is now president of high-definition television program provider HDNet, and is known especially as the colorful, often outspoken owner of pro basketball’s Dallas Mavericks. "You aren't going to switch from TiVo after you have customized it."
Last week, TiVo also received the Television Technology of the Year award at the first annual Billboard Entertainment Awards.
"While our customers often tell us how much they love TiVo, it's always a great honor to be recognized by industry leaders and innovators," said chief marketing officer Matt Wisk. "Awards like these inspire us to continue developing new technologies and services that will revolutionize the way the world watches TV."
