Alsop's Small Thoughts

Lost in "Lost"

I couldn't resist: I bought a copy of "Bad Twin". It's a fiction written by a fictional person, a character that has not  (yet) appeared in the television series Lost, presumably one of the other passengers to whom we haven't been introduced -- yet. Or possibly one that was actually killed in the crash.

I haven't finished the book, but it's actually a pretty good story, pretty well written. The kind of story written by the writing team putting out the script for Lost. You can't find out from the the front or back pages of the book, who (meaning, the real live human beings) actually wrote the book. So I'm assuming it's the same writing team that produces the script.

I am, however, totally impressed by the production quality of this show. I watched the season finale last night (five days late, thanks to TiVo). What a great show. A good book. Lost is clearly a merchandising program and the group that produces it, Touchstone Television, has figured out that it has a property that can be extended. I don't remember an instance of a television show producing a book for commercial sale that is part of the plot and theme of the show itself. Much less having that book appear on the New York Times bestseller list!

All these guys have to do is be careful about over-manipulating their audience. (Of course, it's in character to be manipulative, since the most likely scenario in the show is that the cast itself is being manipulated in some kind of giant mind game.) But during the season, Lost rarely appeared two weeks in a row. Lord knows why they wouldn't put the program on every week, at least mostly, to create an addictive habit in the audience. Even TiVo users notice when one of their favorite shows is so irregular as to not satisfy an existing addiction.

Ain't Got No TiVo Blues

I am depressed. Despite my best efforts, which I'll describe, I have been completely failed by consumer electronics. I was on a 10-day trip raising money (which is why I've been too busy to post since February 5) for my new venture capital fund. My landlord started renovating my basement while I was gone (another post to come). When I got back, my television, my wifi access point, my cable set top box and my TiVo were all blown out, presumably by a power surge caused by the contractor turning the power off to move the electrical and then turning it back on.

Great excuse to buy a new television. But I've also had to replace everything else (my landlord will get a bill). At first, I didn't think I needed to replace the TiVo because it seemed to work, but it turned out to have its brains scrambled so I bought a new one today. Guess what: The TiVo I bought is an old one and REQUIRES a landline phone line to do guided setup and download the newer software that does NOT require a landline phone line. I don’t have a landline phone line in my house. So the only way to get this TiVo installed is to literally (and the TiVo web site says this) take it to a location that does have a landline phone line and do the guided setup there, download the new software over the phone line and then bring it back here, where it will be able to use the network to get its programming.

I've now spent days and hundreds of dollars replacing my equipment and I am completely foiled. And I don't even know who to get mad at.

Digital television is normal

Interesting item: Media Daily News reported that the majority of television owners now receive digital television (not HD, but digital). 51% of households have cable, 26% have satellite and just 22% get television from over the air broadcast. (Don't know what happened to the other 1% but I guess that's the definition of a rounding error.) The survery, conducted by AP and a market researcher, also said that 25% of households use a DVR.

Saved by iTunes!

My television is useless. DirecTV cut me off because I was 30 days late paying my bill. But nearly at the same time, my Samsung DirecTiVo failed. And I tried replacing it with my Highes DirecTiVo and that produced the dreaded Green Screen I referred to in an earlier post. Meanwhile, I am not able to watch television, a really interesting test of my mental stability and general emotional health. I was getting pretty worried that I would begin to miss whole episodes of Lost. (I think I can manage if I miss CSI, Desperate Housewives and even Survivor, which isn't quite as interesting this season as it has been in the past. And I watched a few episodes of Rome and would like to watch the others, but never got time to watch THAT much television.) I would be a lesser man if I missed even one episode of Lost!

I've been reading, of course, how Apple strong-armed Disney ABC into selling episodes of Lost and Desperate Housewives on Apple's iTunes Music Store the day after they air, for playing on the latest iPod, which can handle video. I don't have that iPod. (I bought the 60GB Photo iPod not too long ago, but before the video iPod was announced or even rumored.) But it finally clicked that you don't need an iPod to buy the episodes and watch them, you just need iTunes and an account at the store. So, in desperation, I turned last night to iTunes and downloaded the one episode of Lost ("What Kate Did") that I did miss this past week. I had to give up the comfy chair and living room environment to watch it on my Macintosh. For $2, here's what I got. Very high resolution. Portable (on my Macintosh notebook). Commercial free without having to skip through the ads. And it's stored on my computer to watch again in the future if I want.

Congratulations to NBC for joining ABC in this experiment; if only they were selling shows I wanted to watch!

DirecTV Can Go Jump In A Lake

I can't hold myself back anymore. My DirecTiVo (the device sold by DirecTV that used the service designed by TiVo Inc.)  just decided to reboot itself. I don't know why, but I'm willing to believe now that DirecTV is responsible. I'm willing to believe that DirecTV is responsible for everything bad about my television service.

Since News Corp. bought a majority of the shares of DirecTV, the company has decided to ignore my interests as a customer and pursue what it believes is its strategic interest. That ain't my strategic interest, so I am now motivated to dump DirecTV much as it feels like it has dumped me.

I have two DirecTiVo devices, which I paid for. And I subscribe to the Platinum service on DirecTV (which includes the TiVo service without additional charge) so that my TiVo devices have as much selection to record from as possible. That means I am one of DirecTV's best customers, spending between $90 and $120 a month on the service, depending on how many pay-per-view movies I buy with my TiVo devices. (TiVo makes buying pay-per-view so ridiculously easy, I now buy movies I never bought before -- sometimes 3-6 movies a month).

1) Today, I got a message from DirecTV telling me that my TiVo recorder hasn't made a daily call for 341 days. It's the same message I've gotten every day for the past 341 days. The reason? DirecTiVos are unable either a) to make a dial-up call over a VoIP connection, which is the only telephone service I have now or b) use the Internet to make their regular programming calls to the TiVo service. The reason that's true is because DirecTV (under News Corp.'s direction) has refused to upgrade the software in DirecTiVos to do these things. And I hate the fact that DirecTV sends me a message telling me its my fault that the device hasn't made the call, when it is their design decisions that created this situation.

2) DirecTV has refused to upgrade the DirecTiVos to be able to do remote programming or program sharing inside a home or several other features that TiVo introduced for all of their other non-DirecTV devices more than a year ago. It pisses me off that DirecTV decided to withhold useful features from me.

3) DirecTV has decided to stop marketing the TiVo labeled devices (like mine) in favor of News Corp.'s own device made by another subsidiary of News Corp., the R15 DirecTV Plus DVR (sexy name that, eh?). I can't find any actual reviews of the new DirecTV device, but I keep wondering -- as one of DirecTV's best customers -- why it decided to ignore my preferences in favor of its own interests in making this switch.

I don't like to be treated that way. So, as soon as I can get the logistics worked out, I am going to abandon DirecTV. Funnily enough, Comcast is making it really easy for me to switch. First, Comcast already provides me with broadband Internet service for $60 a month. I also run my  telephone service over that Internet connection, paying Vonage $27 a month to provide unlimited local and long distance service (in the US). So I get Internet access and telephone service (not counting my mobile phone, which is a whole other story) for less than I pay for television from DirecTV.

In theory, I can switch my television service from DirecTV ($90+ a month) to Comcast for some combined price. Service providers appear to be interested in what's referred to as a Triple Play, providing telephone, television and internet service over the same basic connection. I don't want to switch my Vonage service to Comcast (yet). But I do hope that Comcast would be willing to provide me with an incentive to switch my television service from DirecTV. (Of course, Comcast has its own issues: When I go to the automated pricing service on their Web site, it tells me I can't get high speed internet in my zip code, even though I already have that service! On a standalone basis, Comcast says it charges $99.95 a month for its Platinum television service, more than DirecTV.)

I will talk to a service representative at Comcast and find out the truth, which might be that I can get a discount of $10-20 a month for Platinum television for switching. But even if I can't get the same television service for less, I still will be able to get Comcast to provide me with a digital receiver and I can buy a TiVo box from TiVo that has all the latest features that DirecTV refused to give me for $50-100. So I will end up with a better service for about the same cost. And I will be able to get my service from TiVo, which understands making service calls over the internet, providing additional applications on the TiVo device, and providing features like remote programming and in-house sharing of programs!

I will once again be a happy customer and I will take great pleasure in never doing business with DirecTV again! I wonder if anyone at News Corp. understands the dynamics of the digital world: ease of switching, advantages of real useability, and the new world of monopoly-less services. Maybe Rupert Murdoch and his minions are actually vulnerable to real competition and fair play?!

(Disclosures: I am a former director of TiVo, because the firm I was formerly with, New Enterprise Associates, was one of the original investors in the company. I still own more than 5,000 shares of TiVo. And NEA is also a major investor in Vonage, in which I have derivative interest.)