TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
, the company is primarily involved in licensing its
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
within the
consumer electronics
Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic ( analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usuall ...
industry, including
digital rights management,
electronic program guide
Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...
software, and
metadata. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
s.
The company also provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry.
In 2016, Rovi acquired
digital video recorder maker
TiVo Inc.
TiVo Inc. was an American corporation with its primary product being its eponymous digital video recorder. While primarily operating in the United States, TiVO also operated in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, the Unit ...
, and renamed itself TiVo Corporation. On May 30, 2019, TiVo announced the appointment of Dave Shull as the company's new president and CEO.
On December 19, 2019, TiVo merged with
Xperi
Xperi Holding Corporation (formerly Tessera Holding Corporation) is an American technology company that licenses technology and intellectual property in areas such as mobile computing, communications, memory and data storage, and three-dimensio ...
; the combined firm operates as ''Xperi''.
History
Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film ''
The Cotton Club'' was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985.
The technology was subsequently extended to
DVD player
A DVD player is a device that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to ...
s and other consumer electronic recording and playback devices such as digital cable and satellite
set-top boxes
A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...
,
digital video recorders, and
portable media players. By the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services.
In the 1990s, Macrovision acquired companies with expertise in managing access control and secure distribution of other forms of digital media, including music, video games, internet content, and computer software.
John O. Ryan (founder and CEO of Macrovision from June 1995 to October 2001) and William A. Krepick (president of Macrovision Corporation from July 1995 to July 2005 and CEO from October 2001 to July 2005) led the company through an
IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 1997 priced at $9.00 a share. Under their leadership, the company went from a private company with sales of under $20 million to a global, publicly traded corporation with annual sales of $220 million and
market cap
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...
exceeding $1 billion.
In July 2005, the company hired Alfred J. Amoroso as chief executive officer and president to succeed William A. Krepick, who announced his retirement earlier in the year.
Macrovision acquired
Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2, 2008, in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $2.8 billion. The combined company would seek to be “the homepage for the TV experience,” said Mr. Amoroso.
After the announcement of its intent to buy Gemstar-TV Guide, Macrovision made other changes in order to focus on entertainment technology, including selling its software business unit, valued at approximately $200 million, to private equity firm
Thoma Cressey Bravo
Thoma Bravo, LP, is an American private equity and growth capital firm with offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Miami. It is known for being particularly active in acquiring software companies and has over $114 billion in assets under managem ...
. The divestiture of the software business unit closed on April 1, 2008, becoming
Acresso Software
Flexera is an American computer software company based in Itasca, Illinois.
History
On 1 April 2008, Macrovision sold its software division to the Thoma Bravo investment fund, which became Acresso Software. Macrovision subsequently changed ...
. Macrovision also ultimately sold off parts of Gemstar-TV Guide not focused on digital entertainment, including
TryMedia,
eMeta
eMeta Corporation was a company that provided access control, subscription management and ecommerce solutions for media, entertainment and software companies. It was founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York City. eMeta was taken over by M ...
,
TV Guide Magazine
''TV Guide'' is an American biweekly magazine that provides television program listings information as well as television-related news, celebrity interviews and gossip, film reviews, crossword puzzles, and, in some issues, horoscopes. The prin ...
,
TV Guide Network
The American cable and satellite television network Pop was originally launched in 1981 as a barker channel service providing a display of localized channel and program listings for cable television providers. Later on, the service, branded Prev ...
and the
TV Games Network.
The company also bought two companies providing entertainment metadata:
All Media Guide
RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel.
Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...
on November 6, 2007, and substantially all the assets of
Muze, Inc. on April 15, 2009.
As Rovi
![Rovi Corporation logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Rovi_Corporation_logo.svg)
On July 16, 2009, Macrovision Solutions Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation.
Rovi announced its first product on January 7, 2010 – TotalGuide, an interactive media guide that incorporated entertainment data, to search, browse and provide recommendations. On March 16, 2010, Rovi acquired MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. MediaUnbound had helped build static and dynamic personalization and recommendation engines for clients such as Napster, eMusic and MTV Networks. On June 16, 2010, the company announced the Rovi Advertising Network which bundled guide advertising and third-party interactive TV platforms.
On December 23, 2010, the company announced its intention to acquire
Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions was an American computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia. It was acquired by Rovi Corporation in 20 ...
and its
DivX video software in a deal valued at $720 million. Sonic provided digital video processing, playback and distribution technologies and owned RoxioNow (formerly CinemaNow) an OTT technology provider.
On March 1, 2011, Rovi announced its acquisition of online video guide
SideReel
SideReel is a Television show tracking website that allows users to manage various shows they watch. The TV community site gives user access to various discussions, reviews, and news articles related to shows. SideReel does not create or publish ...
.
The company announced Amoroso's intention to retire on May 26, 2011. Tom Carson, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, was appointed CEO and President in December 2011. Under Carson the company shifted its focus on "growth opportunities related to its core enabling technology and services" and it announced that it intended to sell the Rovi Entertainment Store business. It entered into separate agreements to sell the Rovi Entertainment Store to Reliance Majestic Holdings, a private equity-backed company; and its consumer websites to All Media Networks, a new company, in July 2013. Continuing on this path, the company made a similar announcement in January 2014 indicating its intent to sell the DivX and MainConcept businesses.
On April 1, 2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach, a provider of predictive analysis services. The technology would be integrated into Rovi's audience analysis services.
In April 2013,
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
began licensing Rovi metadata for use within the service.
As TiVo Corporation
On April 29, 2016, Rovi Corporation announced that it had acquired
TiVo Inc.
TiVo Inc. was an American corporation with its primary product being its eponymous digital video recorder. While primarily operating in the United States, TiVO also operated in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, the Unit ...
for $1.1 billion. The combined company operated under the TiVo brand, and held over 6,000 pending and registered patents.
Rovi plans to discontinue in-house hardware production, and focus primarily on licensing its technologies and the TiVo brand to third-party companies.
In December 2019, TiVo Corporation announced their intent to merge with
Xperi
Xperi Holding Corporation (formerly Tessera Holding Corporation) is an American technology company that licenses technology and intellectual property in areas such as mobile computing, communications, memory and data storage, and three-dimensio ...
. The surviving entity will operate under the Xperi name and have a combined value of $3 billion. TiVo had previously considered splitting out its hardware operations from its licensing operations. The merger was completed on June 1, 2020.
Products
Guides
Rovi provides guides for service providers and CE manufacturers.
* TotalGuide xD, a white-label media guide for mobile devices for finding, managing, and watching TV shows and movies. This also controlled the set top boxes.
* TotalGuide CE, a media guide for CE manufacturers that gives access to broadcast programming, premium over-the-top (OTT) entertainment, and
catch-up TV
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
* Passport Guide and i-Guide, interactive program guides for service providers
* G-Guide, an
HTML5
HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
-based program guide for digital terrestrial, broadcast satellite, and commercial satellite services
* TotalTV, an online guide enabling websites for news and entertainment organizations to incorporate local TV listings
* Rovi DTA Guide, an interactive program guide designed for households installed with
Digital terminal adapter
A Digital transport/terminal adapter (or DTA) is a device used by cable companies who are switching to all-digital cable systems. They typically have an RF input for receiving service, and a modulated output on Channel 3 or 4 that allows a TV to be ...
s
Data
Rovi provides entertainment metadata for consumer electronics manufacturers, service providers, retailers, online portals and application developers around the world. The company has over 50 years of metadata for video, music, books, and games covering more than 5 million movies and TV programs, 3.2 million album releases and 30 million song tracks, 9 million in-print and out-of-print book titles, and 70,000 video games. The metadata includes basic facts, local TV listings and channel line-ups for interactive program guides, original editorial, imagery, and other features.
Search and Recommendations
Rovi Search Service allows consumer electronics manufacturers, service providers, and developers to provide solutions that enable consumers to search for and access desired content. Rovi Recommendations Service is a cloud-based service that offers consumers entertainment choices similar to their chosen program, movie, album, track, musician or band.
Advertising
Rovi Advertising Service enables the monetization of entertainment platforms. It places ads that appear as content choices in application menus and user interfaces for set-top boxes, connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other devices.
Rovi Audience Management
Rovi Audience Management is a suite of products (Advertising Optimizer and Promotion Optimizer) combining big data with
predictive analytics
Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of statistical techniques from data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future or otherwise unknown events.
In busine ...
to provide TV audience insights and advertising campaign management. Ad Optimizer allows provides campaign management and media planning capabilities to TV networks and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Promo Optimizer uses past viewing data to enable cable and broadcast networks to create plans for on-air promos.
Legacy products
The company historically developed technologies and products that helped protect content from being pirated. Its two core legacy products were called RipGuard and ACP (analog copy protection).
RipGuard
Macrovision introduced its RipGuard technology in February 2005. It was designed to prevent or reduce digital DVD copying by altering the format of the DVD content to disrupt the ripping software. Although the technology could be circumvented by several current DVD rippers such as
AnyDVD
AnyDVD is a device driver for Microsoft Windows which allows decryption of DVDs on the fly, as well as targeted removal of copy preventions and user operation prohibitions (UOPs). With an upgrade, it will also do the same for HD DVD and Blu-r ...
or DVDFab, Macrovision claimed that 95% of casual users lack the knowledge and/or determination to be able to copy a DVD with RipGuard technology.
Analog Copy Protection (ACP)
Analog video formats convey video signals as a series of "lines". Most of these lines are used for constructing the visible image, and are shown on the screen. But several more lines exist which do not convey visual information. Known as the
vertical blanking interval
In a raster scan display, the vertical blanking interval (VBI), also known as the vertical interval or VBLANK, is the time between the end of the final visible line of a frame or field and the beginning of the first visible line of the next fra ...
(VBI), these extra lines historically served no purpose other than to contain the vertical synchronizing pulses, but in more modern implementations they are used to carry or convey different things in different countries; for example
closed captioning
Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio po ...
.
Macrovision's legacy analog copy protection (ACP) works by implanting a series of excessive voltage pulses within the off-screen VBI lines of video. These pulses were included physically within pre-existing recordings on VHS and Betamax and were generated upon playback by a
chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...
in DVD players and digital cable or satellite boxes. A
DVD recorder
A DVD recorder is an optical disc recorder that uses optical disc recording technologies to digitally record analog or digital signals onto blank writable DVD media. Such devices are available as either installable drives for computers o ...
receiving an analog signal featuring these pulses would detect them and display a message saying that the source is "copy-protected" followed by aborting the recording.
VCR
A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. ...
s, in turn, react to these excessive voltage pulses by compensating with their automatic gain control circuitry. This causes the recorded picture to wildly change brightness, rendering it annoying to watch. The system was only effective on VCRs made from the mid-1980s. In addition, these voltage pulses caused some TVs to lose track of the vertical blanking interval, meaning they no longer knew when one frame ended and the next began. This caused the picture to roll wildly up and down the screen on affected sets.
A later form of Macrovision's analog copy protection, called Level II ACP, introduced multiple 180-degree phase inversions to the analog signal's color burst. Also known as color striping, this technology caused numerous off-color bands to appear within the picture.
Another form of analog copy protection, known as
CGMS-A
Copy Generation Management System – Analog (CGMS-A) is a copy protection mechanism for analog television signals. It consists of a waveform inserted into the non-picture Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) of an analogue video signal. If a compatib ...
, is added by DVD players and digital cable/satellite boxes. While not invented by Macrovision, the company's products implemented it. CGMS-A consists of a "flag" within the vertical blanking interval (essentially data, like closed captioning) which digital recording devices search for. If present, it refused to record the signal, just as with the earlier ACP technology. Unlike digital recording equipment, however, analog VCRs do not respond to CGMS-A encoded video and would record it successfully if ACP is not also present.
Historically, the original Macrovision technology was considered a nuisance to some specialist users because it could interfere with other electronic equipment. For example, if one were to run a video signal through a VCR before the television, some VCRs will output a ruined signal regardless of whether it is recording. This also occurs in some TV-VCR combo sets. Apart from this, many DVD recorders mistake the mechanical instability of worn videotapes for Macrovision signals, and so refuse to make what would be perfectly legal DVD dubs of legitimate video tapes, such as home movies. This widespread problem was another factor contributing to the demand for devices that defeat Macrovision. The signal has also been known to confuse home theater
line doubler
A line doubler is a device or algorithm used to deinterlace video signals prior to display on a progressive scan display.
The main function of a deinterlacer is to take an interlaced video frame which consists of 60 two-field interlaced fields of ...
s (devices for improving the quality of video for large projection TVs) and some high-end television
comb filter
In signal processing, a comb filter is a filter implemented by adding a delayed version of a signal to itself, causing constructive and destructive interference. The frequency response of a comb filter consists of a series of regularly space ...
s. In addition, Macrovision confuses many upconverters (devices that convert a video signal to a higher resolution), causing them to shut down and refuse to play Macrovision content.
There are also devices called ''stabilizers'', ''video stabilizers'' or ''enhancers'' available that filter out the Macrovision spikes and thereby defeat the system. The principle of their function lies in detecting the vertical synchronization signal, and forcing the lines occurring during the VBI to black level, removing the AGC-confusing pulses. They can be easily built by hobbyists, as nothing more than a cheap
microcontroller together with an
analog multiplexer and a little other circuitry is needed. Individuals less experienced with such things can purchase video stabilizers.
Discs made with DVD copying programs such as
DVD Shrink
DVD Shrink is a freeware DVD transcoder program for Microsoft Windows that uses a DVD ripper to back up DVD video. The final versions are 3.2.0.15 (English) and 3.2.0.16 (German); all other versions, such as DVD Shrink 2010, are illegitimate. D ...
automatically disable any Macrovision copy protection. The ease with which Macrovision and other copy protection measures can be defeated has prompted a steadily growing number of DVD releases that do not have copy protection of any kind,
Content Scramble System
The Content Scramble System (CSS) is a digital rights management (DRM) and encryption system employed on many commercially produced DVD-Video discs. CSS utilizes a proprietary 40-bit stream cipher algorithm. The system was introduced around 1996 ...
(CSS) or Macrovision.
United States fair use law, as interpreted in the decision over
Betamax (
Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios
''Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.'', 464 U.S. 417 (1984), also known as the “Betamax case”, is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that the making of individual copies of complete television s ...
), dictates that consumers are fully within their legal rights to copy videos they own. However, the legality has changed somewhat with the controversial
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...
. After April 26, 2002, no VCR may be manufactured or imported without
Automatic Gain Control circuitry (which renders VCRs vulnerable to Macrovision). This is contained in title 17, section 1201(k) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. However, there are a number of mostly older VCR models on the market that are not affected by Macrovision.
On October 26, 2001, the sale, purchase, or manufacture of any device that has no commercial purpose other than disabling Macrovision copy protection was made illegal under section 1201(a) of the same controversial act.
In June 2005, Macrovision sent a
cease and desist letter to "Lightning UK!", the maker of
DVD Decrypter, a program that allows users to back up their DVDs by bypassing CSS and Macrovision. They later acquired the rights to this software.
In June 2005, Macrovision sued Sima Products under section 1201 of the DMCA, claiming that Sima's video processors provided a way to circumvent Macrovision's analog copy protection. Sima received an injunction barring the sale of this device, but the parties ultimately settled without a judgment on the legal issues.
As Macrovision
* In 2000, Macrovision acquired Globetrotter, creators of the
FLEXlm
FlexNet Publisher (formerly known as FLEXlm) is a software license manager from Flexera Software which implements license management and is intended to be used in corporate environments to provide floating licenses to multiple end users of comp ...
, which was subsequently renamed
Flexnet
FlexNet Publisher (formerly known as FLEXlm) is a software license manager from Flexera Software which implements copy protection, license management and is intended to be used in corporate environments to provide Floating licensing, floating lic ...
.
* In 2002, Macrovision acquired
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i company Midbar Technologies, developers of the
Cactus Data Shield Cactus Data Shield (CDS) is a form of CD/DVD copy protection for audio compact discs developed by Israeli company Midbar Technologies. It has been used extensively by EMI (subsequently acquired by Sony Music) and BMG and their subsidiaries. CDS reli ...
music copy protection solution for $17 million. Additionally the same year, Macrovision acquired all the music copy protection and digital rights management (DRM) assets of TTR Technologies (formerly NASDAQ listed under the ticker TTRE).
* In 2004, Macrovision acquired
InstallShield
InstallShield is a proprietary software tool for creating installers or software packages. InstallShield is primarily used for installing software for Microsoft Windows desktop and server platforms, though it can also be used to manage software ...
, creators of installation authoring software (later
divested
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is a ...
to
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...
).
* In 2005, Macrovision acquired the
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
rights to
DVD Decrypter from its developer.
* In 2005, Macrovision acquired ZeroG Software, creators of
InstallAnywhere
InstallAnywhere is a Java-based software tool for creating installers or software packages, for multiple platforms. It can also be used to create Virtual Appliances for Linux platforms using an existing installers or software packages. InstallA ...
(direct competition to InstallShield MP (MultiPlatform)), and
Trymedia Systems.
* In 2006, Macrovision acquired
eMeta
eMeta Corporation was a company that provided access control, subscription management and ecommerce solutions for media, entertainment and software companies. It was founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York City. eMeta was taken over by M ...
.
* On January 1, 2007, Macrovision acquired Mediabolic, Inc.
* On November 6, 2007, Macrovision announced its intention to acquire
All Media Guide
RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel.
Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...
.
* On December 7, 2007, Macrovision announced an agreement to acquire
Gemstar-TV Guide and completed the purchase on August 5, 2008.
* On December 19, 2007, Macrovision purchased
BD+ DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement milita ...
technology from
Cryptography Research
Cryptography Research, Inc. is a San Francisco based cryptography company specializing in applied cryptographic engineering, including technologies for building tamper-resistant semiconductors. It was purchased on June 6, 2011 by Rambus for $342. ...
, Inc.
* On April 15, 2009, Macrovision announced that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of
Muze
Founded in 1991, Muze, Inc. was a business-to-business provider of media information, metadata, and digital preview samples that enable search, discovery, and purchase of digital entertainment content.
"Muze was founded by Zullo and Trev Huzley ...
, Inc.
As Rovi
* On March 16, 2010, Rovi acquired Recommendations Service MediaUnbound.
* On December 23, 2010, Rovi announced its intention to acquire
Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions was an American computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia. It was acquired by Rovi Corporation in 20 ...
.
* On March 1, 2011, Rovi acquired
SideReel
SideReel is a Television show tracking website that allows users to manage various shows they watch. The TV community site gives user access to various discussions, reviews, and news articles related to shows. SideReel does not create or publish ...
.
* On May 5, 2011, Rovi acquired DigiForge.
* In 2012, Rovi acquired Snapstick.
* In February 2012, Rovi sold
Roxio
Roxio is an American software company specializing in developing consumer digital media products. Its product line includes tools for setting up digital media projects, media conversion software and content distribution systems. The company formed ...
to
Corel
Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo (pronounced like "all you do"), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviatio ...
.
* On April 1, 2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach.
* On February 25, 2014, Rovi acquired
Veveo
Veveo is a software company based in Andover, Massachusetts.
Founded in 2004, Veveo has worked with other firms Comcast, Cablevision, Rogers, AT&T, DirecTV, and Nokia. The venture-backed company is based near Boston, Massachusetts, and has an ...
.
* On November 3, 2014, Rovi acquired Fanhattan, a company that ran the Fan TV service, and owners of The Movie Database, for $12.0 million in cash.
* On April 29, 2016, Rovi confirmed that it would acquire
TiVo
TiVo ( ) is a digital video recorder (DVR) developed and marketed by Xperi (previously by TiVo Corporation and TiVo Inc.) and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose fea ...
for approximately $1.1 billion.
See also
*
TiVo digital video recorders
TiVo digital video recorders encompass a number of digital video recorder (DVR) models that TiVo Corporation designed. Features may vary, but a common feature is that all of the units listed here require TiVo service and use its operating system.
...
*
DCS Copy Protection
EchoStar Corporation is an American company, a worldwide provider of satellite communication and Internet services through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. EchoStar is based out of unincorporated Arapa ...
*
Automatic content recognition
Automatic content recognition (ACR) is a technology to identify content played on a media device or present within a media file. Devices implementing ACR can allow the device or the manufacturer to collect content consumption information automatic ...
*
Tivoization
Tivoization is the practice of designing hardware that incorporates software under the terms of a copyleft software license like the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), but uses hardware restrictions or digital rights management (DRM) to preve ...
References
Additional sources
Fil's FAQ-Link-In Corner: MacroVision FAQMPAA , DVD Frequently Asked Questions (expired link)
Realnetworks Acquires Game Distributor From Macrovision
Rovi Acquires DigiForgeRovi Corporation Appoints Thomas Carson as President and Chief Executive Officer
External links
*
*
*
ttps://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060816-7517.html Ars Technica: "Digitizing video signals might violate the DMCA"
{{Authority control
Manufacturing companies based in San Jose, California
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Technology companies established in 1983
American companies established in 1983
Technology companies disestablished in 2020
American companies disestablished in 2020
Digital technology
TiVo
Xperi
1997 initial public offerings
2020 mergers and acquisitions