Just one man's opinion, but as a tivo early adopter whose tivos have been gathering dust for some time now, I think DVR is a transitional technology - something that only makes sense in an environment where bandwidth is poor and rights access is difficult. Apple TV is only really inferior to a platform like boxee in so much as apple chooses to make it so, it wouldn't be hard to duplicate a rights environment like that if they wanted to. I wonder if the ipod would have enjoyed such success if they had never supported anything but fairplay encumbered media.

Which isn't to say that Time Warner makes any more sense. Apple does seem to have a fondness for increasing their vertical integration, what about someone like Infineon? Radio components and TCG style security both are big issues for aapl for the foreseeable future, exclusively designed components there could have as big of an impact as an exclusive cpu.

Another man's opinion, but I'll have cable as long as that's where sports are. The fact that I can't watch baseball on my Boxee/AppleTV/ETC means it's not the only set top box I'm going to use. I'd happily pay a good amount for it, like MLB.tv (which is great if you don't like the home team), but there's just not a way for me to do that currently.

I agree, but local TV and radio stations keep online services from streaming sports events to people in that area.

Also, sports is somewhat unique in that the value is all in seeing it live. Personally speaking, once I know the final score of a game, watching a replay of it is worthless. Highlights are one thing, but watching the entire game when you already know who wins, makes no sense to me.

This is huge. NFL will be the last to go, and it's the biggest.

The NFL is at least mostly on OTA broadcasts that can be picked up well with a cheap antenna. There are only a few OTA broadcast baseball games with my team per season (when it's the Fox Saturday Baseball game). All the others are on a regional sports network, Sun Sports. They're in HD and look great, but cable/satellite is the only way to get them.

$1b seems awfully high for TiVo. I'd peg them at half that or less. Their product although arguably superior to their competitors has been commoditized to no end. How can people buy ticks when comcast or directv offer their DVr "free"

I buy TiVos when I can get a lifetime subscription. One price, no recurring monthly or yearly bills. This usually happens around Christmas and for older models (Series 3 TiVo and earlier nowadays). Also, the box is mine.

I'm sure if I got a DVR from a cable or satellite provider, the monthly service cost would be included in my bill for as long as I have the device (a never-ending cost). I am essentially renting a DVR from the cable company. No thanks.

It's all about their IP. If they win the current case with Dish they'll get hundreds of millions up front and earn monthy for each dish customer using a DVR. They'll also be able to go after other companies offering DVRs.

It all comes down to IF they win. I doubt anyone will buy them until that gets resolved.

(disclaimer: I've never had or used a TiVo so maybe I'm missing something)

I don't really see why Apple would be interested in TiVo? TiVo allows you to record content and watch it whenever you feel like it. It gives you control on the schedule and makes everything on-demand.

But Apple doesn't need that since their model is already all on-demand in iTunes. There's probably good talent and IP there, but I'm not sure the product is of any interest for them in itself.

Buy Time Warner and Tivo. Keep them as a separate unit. Put the Tivo people in charge of the Time Warner folks. Make the transition to "new media" gradual.

On second thought, no. That would be like volunteering for the albatross. Time Warner is in the business both Apple and Tivo are trying to disrupt.

For selfish purposes, I'd like to see them buy a US cell-phone carrier, invest in better coverage and bandwidth, and have a reasonable tethering option.