TiVo Stream 4K: When Will the Big CES Buzz Product Finally Arrive?

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TiVo said in January that it would enter the crowded OTT device market in April. But more than halfway through the month—and well into a huge pandemic-fueled window of streaming opportunity—the product is still listed as ‘coming soon’

(Image credit: TiVo)

When will TiVo’s big entry into the streaming device business, the TiVo Stream 4K, finally be available for purchase?

That’s a question some are asking now, more than three months after TiVo made a splashy introduction of the $70 streaming dongle at CES back in January. At the time, TiVo said its Stream 4K—which it said would support all major OTT apps available in Google Play, in addition to its own new TiVo+ streaming service—would be available in April. 

Also read: TiVo Joins the Crowded OTT Device Market with Stream 4K

TiVo posted a video on Twitter Thursday, with reps for the company talking about how “super-excited” they are about the product, which was still listed in the tweet as “coming very soon.” In fact, the URL to the TiVo Stream 4K product page still has that coda: https://www.tivo.com/comingsoon.

When Next TV asked over Twitter how soon, a company rep responded, “The exact date of its availability hasn't been announced yet.”

Another Twitter responder  also expressed some impatience (see below):

(Image credit: Twitter)

Indeed, among the many consumer surveys looking at OTT consumption during the pandemic lockdown, Tubi published one this week suggesting that consumers are spending each day, on average, an entire workday (eight hours) streaming video. A publicly traded maker of OTT devices, such as Roku, hasn’t yet indicated in a first-quarter earnings report that hardware sales are way up. But nobody will be surprised if that happens next month. 

Corporately, TiVo has a lot going on right now, not the least of which is its developing merger with Xperi. But speaking to investors in January, after the TiVo Stream 4K was named a Wall Street Journal “Best of CES” product, TiVo CEO Dave Shull defined the device as a priority. 

“We’re only talking about streaming now,” he told attendees of the Needham Growth Conference in New York. “We’re going to bet on the streaming wars. We have a really easy solution to them.”

Shull said TiVo’s advances in search and discovery, along with Xperi’s entry into device markets like smart TVs, should enable the TiVo 4K Stream to quickly catch up in an OTT device market dominated by Roku and Amazon. 

The question remains, though, when will the TiVo 4K Stream ever get to that market? And what’s holding it up at this point?

Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!