Industry Moves: Tivo Appoints Tom Rogers President & CEO

rogers1.jpg Updated: This probably won’t surprise anyone who knows how active Tom Rogers has been as vice-chairman of TiVo — I’ve been told he was integral on in getting the deal between Comcast and the DVR company back on track when it looked like it was doomed. Rogers is the former chairman and CEO of Primedia (which makes him my former uber-boss) and former president of NBC Cable and EVP-NBC, where, as the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) notes, he was responsible for NBC’s investment in the then-fledgling TiVo and for the partnership with Microsoft that created MSNBC and MSNBC.com. He starts July 1 but will be commuting rather than relocate to the west coast; that initially was a sticking point for the board.
Rogers is filling two positions opened by resignations: Chairman and co-founder Mike Ramsey announced earlier he would be giving up the roles of chairman and CEO while Martin Yudkovitz left as president in February. (Ramsey will remain on the board and head the technology committee.)The move consolidates the two most important operating roles at a time when TiVo faces some of its greatest challenges: DirecTV is launching its own DVR offensive, powerful broadband options for time-shifted viewing are multiplying, and computer-based options like the Windows Media Center are becoming more sophisticated. When the Apple-Intel deal was announced earlier this month, one of the first reactions was that the Mac Mini, or something like it, soon would be in living rooms as a media server. Windows Xbox is already headed in that direction.
To succeed, TiVo has to move away from the idea of owning the hardware category, which is where Rogers comes in. He stresses in the press release the need to work with “multi-channel carriers, networks and advertisers.”
Rogers is also chairman of Teleglobe (NASD: TLGB), a global telecommunications, mobile telephony and VOIP provider, and his own media and investment firm, TRget Media.
Listen to the conference call for more detail on the role of advertising, the relationship with DirecTV and TiVo’s support of non-TiVo hardware as well as the importance of portability.Windows Media Player

Also, WSJ.com has the CNBC interview clip with Rogers, here

Related:

CableWorld: Q&A With Tom Rogers: A recent Q&A with Tom Rogers on Tivo

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