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DirecTV Buys What's Left Of ReplayTV
from the thanks-for-the-time-shifted-memories dept
DirecTV has had something of a love-hate affair with TiVo for years, so the company must be happy that it's been able to pick up the remains of ReplayTV. Remember that ReplayTV actually pre-dated TiVo in the DVR scene -- and the two were direct competitors for a while. ReplayTV was a favorite among many in the techset for not giving in to the entertainment industry (as TiVo did). That meant that ReplayTV actually allowed features like commercial skipping and sharing recordings with other ReplayTV users. Unfortunately for ReplayTV this also meant a series of bank account-draining lawsuits forcing the company into bankruptcy followed by a firesale to consumer electronics firm D&M Holdings. Not much was heard from ReplayTV for a while. The company decided to drop the hardware habit and focus just on software -- but apparently it wasn't doing much for D&M Holdings. It's unclear what DirecTV is planning to do with what's left of ReplayTV, but the immediate speculation is that it's really just buying a patent portfolio at this point. It's a rather sad end for what had been an innovative and consumer-friendly company.
