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TiVo chief Ramsay leaving CEO post
By Brendan Sullivan

TiVo Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Ramsay will step down as CEO, but will retain his role as chairman, TiVo announced on Wednesday.

Ramsay will step down when the company finds a replacement, TiVo said in a statement. The search is already underway, but no candidates have been named, the Alviso, California-based company said.

In the statement, Ramsay described the leadership transition at TiVo as a "natural transition" as the company grows and matures. Experts said Ramsay's departure may be in part a result of unsuccessful attempts by the company to establish strong relationships with cable providers.

Ramsay's departure comes after TiVo had limited success establishing relationships with TV cable providers, which put a great deal of pressure on the company, said Jupiter Research Analyst Todd Chanko.

"It's an unfortunate development because the person stepping down is one of the founders of the company, and somebody had to take responsibility for the company's strategies," he said.

TiVo currently has strong ties with satellite TV provider The DirecTV Group Inc. However, the contract between the two companies expires in 2007 and is unlikely to be renewed, which will send TiVo scrambling to find new subscribers, Chanko said.

Although no specific names have been mentioned as Ramsay's successor, Chanko predicts that the company will bring in a new executive to develop connections with other cable or satellite outlets.

"I'm guessing that (TiVo) would want to find someone extremely strong who maybe comes from the cable industry ... bridging the gap between (TiVo) technology and cable services," he said.

Ramsay founded TiVo in 1997 with Jim Barton and has been its only CEO. TiVo specializes in hard drive-based digital video recorders which allow subscribers to record and store TV programs and offer features such as pausing live TV.

Posted January 13, 2005 06:54 PM |