What you need to know
- TiVo has confirmed that its Apple TV and Roku apps are currently "in limbo".
- VP of consumer products and services Ted Malone first revealed the news during an interview at CES 2020.
- A TiVo spokesperson later said this was "inaccurate", then provided a statement that said exactly the same thing.
TiVo's VP of consumer products and services Ted Malone has revealed that TiVo's Roku and Apple TV apps are "in limbo".
According to TechHive:
TiVo's vice president of consumer products and services Ted Malone said in an interview at CES that the company's Roku and Apple TV apps, in particular, are "in limbo."Malone wouldn't say definitively that the apps have canceled, and he believes Android TV support may arrive at some point as a tie-in to the TiVo Stream 4K, which runs Android TV. From there, adding Fire TV support wouldn't be difficult because Fire TV apps are based on Android as well. Still, he didn't give a timeline for either.
Malone reportedly stated:
"My bet is we'll get Android, and because of that we'll get the Fire TV, because it's the same app, just different qualifications... "I think Roku and Apple are in limbo."
TiVo demoed its streaming apps for Roku, Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV at CES 2019. They were due to be released during 2019, allowing users to access their TiVo DVRs on other TVs without additional hardware. Apparently the delay is due to "limited resources, technical challenges, and strategy changes." There's also the technical issue of transcoding video before streaming it to other devices, causing quality and performance problems Malone says are yet to be resolved.
Malone further stated:
"If we really believe the streaming market is where it's at, we need to double down on that and not get distracted by a bunch of things that other people want, but aren't really going to move the needle."
A TiVo spokesperson commenting on the news said Malone's information was "inaccurate" and issued the following statement:
"During the second half of this year, we re-prioritized several projects in order to focus on the launch of TiVo Stream 4K. Because of this, the streamer clients were put on hold. We are looking at moving forward with the Android streamer client in order to provide compatibility between Stream and Linux based DVR's. Apple TV and Roku clients are currently on hold."
Both the statement and Malone seem to confirm that TiVo reshifted its focus last year, that Android remains a priority, and that Apple TV and Roku clients are "currently on hold."
