Om Malik sums up the Tivo debate here
My two cents:

Tivo is code for a movement, not a company or a box. Tivo means- media that you control, not that controls your life. When people like Michael Powell call it a "God's Machine", they're not praying to Ramsay. They're saying - out load - that the model of a nation rushing home at 7:50 to be sitting on thier coach when their favorite show comes on is just nuts. And being able to push pause, and live your life on your terms is powerful stuff.

So yes, Comcast would have been a good decision for the stock called Tivo (maybe), but a bad decision for the concept called Tivo (freedom).

What's that wisdom about early adopter product failing during the lul between niche and mass? Apple Newton anyone?

Tahiti is a great name for the next generation of Tivo software. It's a fantasy island where the world is always sunny and the drinks always have little umbrella's in them. It's the right idea - maybe to early - but much like Tivo itself, inevitable.

So you can't fault Ramsay for not being double jointed enough to both thumb his nose at the rules of the game, and then not be willing to suck up to the very model that he was helping to explode.

I'd argue this is a natural part of the revolution/evolution of both distribution and content. And that's good.