DVR technology, we believe, is really going to be a standard feature or loss leader for premium interactive television services. It can exist as a standalone service, but where the money will be made is through licensing the technology to cable operators, to develop backend solutions and to make it part of an entire service, and to charge consumers perhaps on a per-use basis, rather than a monthly service. And of course, advertising, shopping and e-commerce will be a viable way to make money in this market. Replay TV has helped launch the personal TV era. If they think they have, he says, They haven t figured out really what kind of problem they re trying to address.
Cable operators have a lot of things on their plate right now.
And this will be addressed when some of the other things get taken care of. So, it s a matter of timing for the industry as a whole. I think the technology for doing this is pretty much doable, straightforward. It s figuring out how you deploy it in a meaningful way to both the cable operator and the subscriber that has yet to work out. That means what you re really providing is all of the content available to the viewer at their convenience, which drastically changes the viewing experience.