# Customizable TiVo "Sports Center"



## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

With all the talk about difficulties in finding and scheduling sports programs with OnePass I have started to think maybe TiVo is missing a huge opportunity to cater to that HUGE market.

They should develop a "Sports Center", similar to their collections that would allow users to select a sport, select a team, see the schedule (more than just 2 week guide data) and record the "collection". 

From this portal they could even provide team stats / player info especially via second screen iOS / android TiVo app (although this probably exceeds tivo's design strategy)

Do this right and TiVo could see some serious press as wall as bringing huge customer value.

Note: I don't watch sports very often, but even I see the value in catering to this rabid market!


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## sangs (Jan 1, 2003)

bradleys said:


> With all the talk about difficulties in finding and scheduling sports programs with OnePass I have started to think maybe TiVo is missing a huge opportunity to cater to that HUGE market.
> 
> They should develop a "Sports Center", similar to their collections that would allow users to select a sport, select a team, see the schedule (more than just 2 week guide data) and record the "collection".
> 
> ...


DirecTV offers this exact thing on its Genie and I must admit, it is a great feature. You choose your team and it gives you the option of "Season Record." Sometimes, however, it chooses a channel on which your local team is playing, but it will be blacked out. Other times, if you subscribe to something like NHL Center Ice, NBA League Pass, MLBEI it will record the other team's broadcast. It doesn't happen all the time, but with enough frequency that I need to check the TDL every week to make sure it's scheduled to record the feeds I want recorded. Overall though, a very handy feature.


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## b-ball-fanatic (Aug 5, 2003)

Excellent idea!


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

I was thinking about this today and I think this should be something TiVo does... I did a mock-up of a team page - just to wet the appetite.


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## b-ball-fanatic (Aug 5, 2003)

Little point in whetting the appetite on that one.

You're really talking about things many users have wanted for years....customized folders, more elaborate season pass and Wish List functions. Things that TiVo, unfortunately, has never even hinted at adding.

As someone pointed out in another thread- it took them 10 years just to add a disk usage meter. Enhancing the the UI or equipping the user with "power tools" has never been their "thing," and I think their main focus these days has turned to online streaming.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

b-ball-fanatic said:


> Little point in whetting the appetite on that one.
> 
> You're really talking about things many users have wanted for years....customized folders, more elaborate season pass and Wish List functions. Things that TiVo, unfortunately, has never even hinted at adding.
> 
> As someone pointed out in another thread- it took them 10 years just to add a disk usage meter. Enhancing the the UI or equipping the user with "power tools" has never been their "thing," and I think their main focus these days has turned to online streaming.


Customized folders will never happen because it isn't a good idea... It would create a mechanism of way too much manual interaction - it is one of those things that people ask for but would be a mess to implement and bring very little ROI. I am tired of hearing about it frankly - it won't happen and TiVo is correct to not get anywhere near it.

Most of the requests I read (including usage meter) are either Ill considered, diverges from tivo's design strategy or has very little ROI.

TiVo already has collections and group recordings so this suggestion isn't some stupid "power user" request with no ROI. Do I have any delusions that TiVo will run with this suggestion? Not really... It is quite involved and they are far more likely to just make a few tweeks existing aggregation schemes.

That said - if this was done, and done well, it could be hugely popular and generate a lot of press for TiVo.

I will also say - if you consider tivo's design strategy, they have stayed very consistent and delivered a lot of functionality in the last 10 years.


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## SugarBowl (Jan 5, 2007)

The current feature for browsing sports is very frustrating. There are about 50 entries for sports, including curling, archery, fencing....

So i select basketball to see all of the college basketball games.. But instead of seeing each game, i see one entry that says 'College basketball'. You have to select that entry, then upcoming episodes.. then scroll down a list.. and each time you select a show to record the list resets to the top.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

SugarBowl said:


> The current feature for browsing sports is very frustrating. There are about 50 entries for sports, including curling, archery, fencing....
> 
> So i select basketball to see all of the college basketball games.. But instead of seeing each game, i see one entry that says 'College basketball'. You have to select that entry, then upcoming episodes.. then scroll down a list.. and each time you select a show to record the list resets to the top.


I agree and I think there are a lot of ways TiVo could make this easier.

I mocked up a team page earlier - but if they just wanted to use the existing footprint they could allow you to navigate a hierarchy down to a sport, conference or team and create a OnePass from that selection.

So you could have a OnePass for:

The NBA,
The Central Division or,
The Chicago Bulls

Can you imagine the press if TiVo developed a highly integrated sports portal? If there is a group more rabid than sports fanatics, I have never met them!


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