The complete history of TiVo, and how it changed television forever

For a while, it seemed like everyone had a TiVo. It’s been a plot point in major TV shows. She had A-list fans in Hollywood. It has become as ubiquitous as Google or Xerox. The love was well deserved, as TiVo had created a product that truly felt like magic. You could Stop live TV. And rewind it. You can also set shows to record later, knowing they’ll be there when you need them.

There’s a reason you don’t have a TiVo now. The company quickly became a victim of its own success, never managing to turn its game-changing concept into a major company or truly successful product. Meanwhile, the changes it helped bring about in our consumer habits eventually left TiVo behind. We all live in the world imagined by TiVo — but we often do so without TiVo.

on This episode of Release datethe final episode of our second season, we trace the story of TiVo from smart startup to Hollywood darling to the licensing machine. David Pearce, Nilay Patel, author and journalist Emily Nussbaum Discuss what made TiVo so special at the time, how it changed both the shows we watch and how we watch them, and what happened when TiVo technology became ubiquitous. It turns out we all miss our TiVos — but we probably won’t get another one anytime soon.

Since this is the end of our season, we will be taking a few weeks off to prepare the next batch of episodes. If you want to make sure you get every new episode as soon as it drops, there are ways to subscribe Release date:

If you want to learn more about the history of TiVo, and the way it changed our TV habits, here are some links to get you started: