TiVo was made for football championships
With matches in the Euro2004 group stages kicking off at 17:00 in the UK I have been taking advantage of the flexibility of our working hours to try and get home to see the games. However, on days like today, when buses and trains let me down and it inexplicably takes me one hour and thirty-eight minutes to cover the 45 minute journey home, TiVo comes to the rescue. Today's match between debutant's Latvia and the Czech Republic kicked off at 17:40 in my house. No longer do I miss a kick, I can just time-shift it by the amount of time I've been delayed. (As long, of course, as like Terry & Bob I can avoid seeing the result or latest score on the way home).
This isn't the only way it is useful. Tonight, in order to ensure that our TiVo gets to record Tru Calling on Sky One, despite the fact I have the house to myself, I still have to go down to the pub to watch Germany against The Netherlands. Which is no bad thing either.
I also found that Euro 2004 has been the first time that red button functionality has *really* been worth using. Coming in late most evenings, I've gone to News 24, called up the video loop application, and watched all the goals from the evening's matches. My partner has actually stayed in the room to watch too.
Normally, when I hit the red button to try out various newly-hyped applications (Life of Mammals, where are you now?) she gets narked and says "Can't we just sit here and enjoy watching the TV?". There's something about the combination of the rights to good video and addressing a previously-unmet audience need that makes it feel like something people actually want, not just something the BBC is pushing them.