The device used was invented by TiVo, Inc; the company was started by a group of communications veterans from companies like Silicon Graphics and Time Warner’s Full Service Network digital video system. These founders are Michael Ramsey and Jim Barton. The thought they would be creating a home device for networking but it turned into the idea for a digital video recorder and when the show was being taped the show would be stored on a hard drive.
They got venue capital easily because the concept of the product was so good. The company they first started was called Teleworld. The original plan was coming to fruition and the first instrument was digitalized and compressed into analog video to go into any source. Then the second device was combined with TiVo function with DIRECTV. The signals that were sending from the satellite TV were stored onto the hard disk. They changed the name of the company to TiVo which is both the service and the product. It became an Initial Public Offering or IPO on September 30, 1999. They turned their first profit the second quarter of 2005.
Then name TiVo is a combination of the word TV and the word video. This type of service is great because you don’t have to worry about tapes running out or breaking in the middle of a show. You can also tape two weeks ahead of time which is great for the busy family who is constantly on the run.
