TiVoToGo goes legit
TiVo dodged a bullet yesterday, when despite the best efforts of the both the MPAA and the National Football League, the FCC granted them approval to add TiVoToGo, a new feature that would let users copy shows stored on their digital video recorder to other future TiVo boxes or a PC, or share them with some friends. The ruling actually only specifically relates to TiVos capable of recording digital television broadcasts, but why they needed the FCC's approval at all is a little complicated. The short story is that to appease the networks (who are worried that the transition from analog to digital broadcasting will make it too easy for people to copy pristine digital copies of TV shows and share them online) the FCC decided to require a little something called the Broadcast Flag, which would require any digital TV tuner connected to a digital video recorder to prevent shows from being recorded in such a way that they could be copied and shared. The Broadcast Flag is supposed to prevent people from sharing shows or transferring them from their DVR to their PC, which is why TiVo needed a waiver of sorts to add TiVoToGo. Still with us?
Anyway, as we've whined before, what's messed up is that TiVo (and others) have to get FCC approval to add new innovations to their products in the first place.
[Thanks, Jeffrey]
