After 26 years, TiVo is no more. The once-revolutionary video-recording service has now gone the way of Blockbuster and Betamax after the company announced earlier this month it’d be ending sales of its hardware. The company said it had no more of its inventory left in stock, though existing users will still continue to receive customer support. “We are very proud of the TiVo DVR legacy,” a spokesperson said. After its launch in 1999, TiVo revolutionized the way Americans watch television, entering the lexicon as it allowed viewers to not only record their favorite shows but also skip through commercials. Following the advent of digital streaming services and a decline in audiences for scheduled programming, its market share has shrunk sharply in recent years, even as some users remained religiously devoted to the service. “I hung on as long as I could, but I would’ve hung on longer if TiVo hadn’t taken the decision out of my hands,” one customer said. Others have expressed annoyance over a lack of clarity on what the end of sales means for lifetime subscriptions. “What’s going to happen with lifetime service?” one person said. “If it dies and they pull the plug, what’s the alternative?”
Read it at Wall Street Journal
The post TiVo is Finally Dead as Company Pulls Device Off Market appeared first on The Daily Beast