An article in today’s Australian IT which is mainly about high HDTV sales from retailer Harvey Norman and the boost from the Olympics contains a little tidbit about TiVo in Australia which has to put a smile on the faces of TiVo and Seven Network.
[Gerry Harvey] also revealed the TiVo digital recording device brought to Australia by the Seven Network had been a surprise hit.
Seven launched TiVo as a direct free-to-air counter to Foxtel’s IQ device and gave Harvey Norman exclusive rights to sell the product for the first six weeks.
Seven is supporting the TiVo with ads in high rotation during the Olympics.
“We have sold more than three times what I would have expected — and again, I think the Olympics have been a factor.
“I didn’t think TiVo would be a big seller. Sometimes you just never know.”
Selling more than three times that was expected sounds like good news to me. I’m looking forward to seeing some hard sales figures for TiVo in Australia eventually. I’ve seen various mentions in journals and blogs and the general reception from those buying them has been positive. The DVB-T platform seems to be working well, which gives some hope that TiVo will re-enter the UK market (where DVB-T is also used, commonly called Freeview) and also additional world markets where DVB-T is used.
