Goddamn it!!! I'm a TiVo shareholder (and an enthusiastic owner/user), and over the past 48 hours I've seen nothing but bad news about the company's prospects. NPR's "Marketplace" had a segment by Yale Law & Economics professor Ian Ayers (obviously a crackpot . . .) tonight saying TiVo was doomed, and specifically that shareholders like me should be wetting ourselves. I have two words for Professor Ayers: Shut the hell up!!
Even DirecTV, TiVo's biggest conduit to new customers, announced yesterday that it had sold all its TiVo stock and that one of its executives had resigned from TiVo's board. The story has been in all the papers and financial press for the past two days. And tonight even friggin' law.com has this article from some smut rag called IP Law & Business:
Faced with heated competition, TiVo's betting big on a high-risk patent infringement suit and some high-stakes -- and, right now, highly speculative -- licensing deals. At the same time, TiVo risks the wrath of other patent owners who have staked a claim to TiVo territory, as well as content providers who may hamper its ability to innovate and compete. How these matters turn out won't just make or break TiVo's bottom line -- they will most likely make or break TiVo.
Bah!!! Don't believe a word of it! TiVo will prevail! TiVo will Rule!! Just repeat after me: "TiVo is good. I must buy a TiVo. TiVo is good. I must buy a TiVo." Just keep saying that over and over. Say it out loud. Say it to strangers.
(To hear me saying it to millions of strangers on NPR almost exactly a year ago, visit this link.)