![]() TiVo is using this week's show to announce several moves to bypass cable systems, by using the Internet and personal computers as media for television delivery and viewing. ![]() That cable trend has been a particular threat to TiVo, which virtually invented the digital video recorder business in the late 1990's, but has struggled lately - in large part because it is difficult for TiVo's machines to change channels on a digital cable system. Moreover, the cable companies are increasingly muscling in on the electronics makers' business by enhancing their set-top boxes with digital video recording abilities and other new features. Those cable company boxes make it hard for most of the devices that are on center stage here, like flashy flat-screen televisions or advanced video recorders, to truly control the signals they are receiving. But their influence is everywhere, as equipment makers seek to work with - or bypass - the cable industry's bottleneck control over the way most Americans watch TV.Īll the approaches address the central fact that consumers of most current versions of digital cable service - the kind with the most channels and advanced features - must now use a set-top box provided by the cable system, usually for a monthly rental fee. 5 - Cable television companies are not among the exhibitors here at the Consumer Electronics Show.
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