Director of TiVo Australia or Hybrid Television Services (ANZ), Robbee Minicola has left Australia, and is already back in her home country of the USA, after working internationally for 27 years. She confirmed this with a post on twitter a few hours ago. Her profile description listed her as the “TiVo mad leader working towards building the best TiVo experience in AU and NZ”.
TiVo in Australia hasn’t exactly been booming with poor sales numbers, lack of updates and models and downsizing to skeleton staff. With the head of the company, TiVo’s future in Australia becomes even more bleak. As an owner and fan of TiVo, its incredibly frustrating that TiVo is being left to die like this. There has now been multiple models and updates released internationally that have not made it to Australia.
What has always puzzled me about TiVo is its lack of partnerships and bundles with television manufacturers. Consumers have embraced HDTV’s over the past few years in a massive way, so bundling a discounted TiVo would have been a great way to drive sales. One hope for TiVo fans is that Australian licencee of TiVo, would be acquired by someone who has the resources and passion to make TiVo a success in Australia. Fingers crossed.
