TiVo CEO Tom Rogers tipped his hand yesterday, revealing that the company is seriously considering a plan that gives away the TiVo digital video recorder. Rogers said testing of this free TiVo pricing plan is likely to begin fairly soon, and will probably involve longer-term or pricier contracts similar to those offered by cellphone companies. Rogers has confidence about the company's future:
"As much as we do get skepticism about our future, there are over 4 million TiVo subscribers — that number is growing. We feel that the notion that TiVo has hit some kind of distribution wall and is no longer a growth animal is not the case."
Even so, it doesn't look good when you suddenly start offering your product for free. Let's hope Rogers isn't Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
TiVo may give away set-top boxes - CEO [Reuters via Yahoo News]