Way back in the day, in 2000, TiVo dipped a toe into generating content for their users, and the broader market, through TiVo Takes. It was aired using a time slot on the PAX channel, so anyone could watch it, though it was really aimed at TiVo users.
By the time I purchased my first TiVo in February of 2002, TiVo Takes was already defunct, just something users would talk about wistfully. But for its time it was an interesting foray into interactive television. I think the user base, which considering they’d only launched in 1999 was quite small, wasn’t large enough to sustain such efforts. Though TiVoShanan has done a few in-house long-form videos for TiVo promotions. I remember some from couple of years ago where she went behind the scenes on some shows, I don’t remember if that was given a unique title though.
Well, a lot has changed in the past eight years, not the least of which is the rise of online video. And now TiVo is taking another stab at generating content, launching The Badoop Badoop Show on YouTube. The channel blurb:
Since its inception, the Emmy® award-winning TiVo service has changed the way millions of people watch TV. And coming soon: the “The Badoop Badoop Show,” a quirky show to keep you in the entertainment know with TiVo recommendations every week on what to watch, hear, download and more. This is not your average entertainment news show. And yes! The show is named after one of TiVo’s unmistakable soundmarks: Badoop-Badoop! Subscribe now for the PREMIERE of Badoop coming next week!
Right now there is one video posted, which is the promo video for the launch of YouTube on the TiVo Series3/HD. Having this on YouTube is great, and clearly a way to stealth market. But while watching it via YouTube on TiVo would be very meta indeed, I hope they offer the content up as a TiVoCast channel as well. I’m busy and lazy, I love it when content comes to me – be it TiVoCast, RSS, or what have you. Speaking of RSS, here’s the feed for the YouTube channel.
Thanks to Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny for the heads-up.
