TiVo Inc. was an American

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

with its primary product being its

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to ...

. While primarily operating in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, TiVO also operated in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, and

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

. On September 8, 2016, TiVo Inc. was acquired by Rovi Corporation. The new entity became known as

TiVo Corporation TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property ...

, which in turn, merged with Xperi in December 2019.

History

The company TiVo Inc. was incorporated on August 4, 1997, as Teleworld, Inc. by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay, former employees at

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

and

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

Full Service Network Full Service Network is a Western Pennsylvania facility based Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) providing services which include High Speed Internet and Broadband Phone Service. It was founded in 1989 by University of Pittsburgh student D ...

digital video system. Originally intending to create a home network device, they later developed the idea to record digitized video on a hard disk for a monthly service, at the suggestion of

Randy Komisar Randy Komisar is a technology attorney, executive, and author living in Silicon Valley, California. Komisar is the co-founder of Claris, former CEO of Lucas Arts Entertainment, Chief Financial Officer of GO Corp, and the "virtual CEO" of TiVo. E ...

. The original TiVo device digitized and compressed analog video from any source.

Teleworld 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 feat ...

began the first public trials of the TiVo device and service in late 1998 in the San Francisco Bay area. Teleworld, Inc. renamed itself to TiVo Inc. on July 21, 1999, and made its IPO (Initial Public Offering) on September 30, 1999. In late 2000, Philips Electronics introduced the DSR6000, the first

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

receiver with an integrated TiVo DVR. This new device, nicknamed the

DirecTiVo 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. ...

, stored digital signals sent from DirecTV directly onto a hard disk. In early 2000, TiVo also partnered with electronics manufacturer Thomson and broadcaster

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

to deliver the TiVo service in the UK market. This partnership resulted in the Thomson PVR10UK, a stand-alone receiver released in October 2000. In January 2003, After poor sales, TiVo pulled out of the UK market. On January 27, 2004, TiVo announced the acquisition of Strangeberry Inc., a Palo Alto-based technology company specializing in using home network and broadband technologies to create new entertainment on television. In 2004, TiVo sued EchoStar Corp, a manufacturer of DVR units, for patent infringement. The parties reached a settlement in 2011 wherein EchoStar paid TiVo a licensing fee for its technology. In June 2005, Tom Rogers, a TiVo board member since 1999, was named president and chief executive officer of TiVo Inc. In 2006, TiVo, Inc. won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology. TiVo was again awarded an Emmy in 2013 for Technical and Engineering Achievement for Personalized Recommendation Engines for Video Discovery. On November 25, 2009, TiVo re-entered the UK market by announcing a partnership with UK cable company

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...

. By 2012, TiVo services had become a part of 18% of Virgin's TV customer base. By the end of 2013, TiVo was installed in 52%, or around 2 million, of all Virgin TV's subscribers. On January 19, 2010,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

filed a lawsuit against TiVo, Inc. for patent infringement. TiVo had also filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for patent infringement. The companies agreed to end their respective lawsuits in March 2012. On July 17, 2012, TiVo announced the acquisition of

TRA, Inc. TRA, Inc. (The Right Audience) is a media and marketing measurement company that matches the advertisements households receive with the products they buy. The company is based in New York City and was founded by Mark Lieberman and Bill Harvey i ...

, an

audience measurement Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Sometim ...

company that measures advertising effectiveness. On January 29, 2014, TiVo announced the acquisition of Digitalsmiths, a cloud-based content discovery and recommendation service for

pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

. In March, 2015, TiVo purchased the assets of Aereo, a technology company that allowed subscribers to view live and time-shifted streams of over-the-air television on Internet-connected devices, for $1 million. On April 29, 2016, Rovi announced that it had acquired TiVo Inc. for $1.1 billion, and that the combined company would operate under the TiVo brand. On September 8, 2016, the acquisition by Rovi Corporation was completed. On December 19, 2019, TiVo and Xperi announced they had entered into a definitive merger agreement in an all-stock transaction, representing approximately $3 billion of combined enterprise value. The combined company's value creation plan will focus on integrating the companies’ respective product and IP licensing businesses.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.tivo.com/about, TiVo – official site Companies based in San Jose, California Entertainment companies of the United States Interactive television Mass media companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1997 American companies established in 1997 TiVo 2016 mergers and acquisitions

History

See also

References

External links