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TiVo Wants Japanese Presence in 2006

By: Charles Farrar

TOKYO - Japanese news reports indicate California-based digital
custom television recording service TiVo is looking to partner up
with Japanese companies for offerings in Japan as soon as next
year.

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TiVo chief executive Michael Ramsay was quoted in Nihon Keizai
Shimbun March 21 as saying the company hoped to begin plying the
Japanese digital television recording market that soon.

The paper also said TiVo could face strong competition with
Matsushita¹s Panasonic brand selling large volumes of DVD
recording devices with TiVo-like functions including pausing live
broadcasts while recording.

Nihon Keizai also quoted Ramsay as saying TiVo¹s best bets include
a partnership with ³a strong Japanese service provider,² a hint
that TiVo may be looking to make a deal with either a cable
television network or an Internet service provider. Or, the
company might partner with a Japanese consumer electronics company
to obtain hard drives.

These reports came in the middle of TiVo grappling with such
challenges as looking for a new chief executive, losing its
president, and handling competition from digital video recorders
offered by cable television companies.