Have You Hugged Your TiVo Lately?

I can barely remember the dark and dreary world that I lived in before TiVo. It was a world where television was a chain that bound me to it. I couldn’t take control over it. The networks owned me and I existed to watch their mindless commercials and sit on my couch like a good little dog whenever they told me to. It was a world where I never watched Saturday Night Live because I just didn’t stay up that late.

I am now at another turning point in my life, and I find that TiVo has a hold on me in a similarly eerie way. At home, I sport a DirecTiVo. It was a great little partnership whereby I got DirecTV programming and TiVo all rolled into one fancy little box. In fact, I was able to get dual HD tuners long before TiVo gave that option to anyone else.

But then something went horribly awry. DirecTV decided they were too big for their britches (or maybe TiVo did?), and decided to make their own DVR. I’ve tried other DVRs in the past but they’re just glorified VCRs (remember those?). TiVo is more. It records things for me before I even know I want to watch them.

TiVo is revolutionary. It changed the world. The networks are now owned by me, not the other way around. I can watch commercials if I want. They can all go to hell. TiVo is like a freedom fighter, liberating those who were chained down by the oppression of schedules and advertising.

My hardware is old; I need new hardware. I can choose to abandon TiVo and stay loyal to DirecTV or I can abandon DirecTV and stay loyal to TiVo. It is a choice I have already made. TiVo is my only true loyalty in television tech. Wherever TiVo goes, I will follow. Some DirectTV lackey is laughing his butt off right now saying “I told you so” to some stupid corporate decision maker. Sorry, DirecTV — you lose.