TiVo: difficult Oz future?
August 22, 2007
Pay-TV sales company Multi Channel Network has cast doubt on the future of TiVo, which is backed by the Seven Network, telling advertisers the venture may never get off the ground. Rob Leach, head of MCN’s interactive television division and, said TiVo had “bombed” in Britain after proving to be “a difficult product to market” partly due to high set-top box costs.
The comments come after media buyers denied a report last week that 20 advertisers had paid $1 million (E0.7m) to participate in interactive advertising trials on the TiVo platform. “No advertisers have put any money down for TiVo at all; that’s what we’re told by Seven,” said a source at the Mitchell & Partners media buying agency, which is one of Australia’s biggest. Leach was seeking to allay concerns about ad-skipping during a digital advertising seminar held by media agency MindShare.