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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Should Comcast Buy Tivo

Since I felt it necessary to tell Apple what to buy with its money, I feel compelled to do the same with other companies. No attaching article, just my own thoughts to best serve my needs. And so my first recommendation is for Comcast to buy Tivo. If you don't mind proactively recording future shows, then the DVR is your friend. Having used both the Tivo and DVR, I wish that Comcast would buy them so as to quickly integrate them into their DVR service. Sure Comcast has a deal with Tivo, but do they market it, no. A Tivo DVR should be standard on every Comcast DVR box. And it might make it a lot easier for Tivo to get traction with other cable operators as well.

Okay, so Comcast has a lot on their plate, still arguing with the DOJ about their NBC merger. So if not Comcast, then Cisco should step up. They bought Scientific Atlanta, the company that makes the DVR boxes, they should buy Tivo and thus make their DVR superior. Why am I obsessed with upgrading the cable DVR experience? Because when you have driven a better car, it is hard to go back to the old clunker.

Okay, one more acquisition idea. Ultimately, I want Apple to have a second distribution platform and Sirius could be the company that also supports their cloud based approach. Add to that the content that Sirius produces, and Apple gets the one two punch with an acquisition of both content and distribution. Far-fetched or brilliant, it may initially seem like an odd couple but it could just be the next spark for what you want, when you want, where you want, how you want. As long as Steve Jobs and Howard Stern get along.