It's official: TiVo is a company in trouble. One of its biggest partners, DirecTV, just divested its 4 percent stake in the company, and TiVo now faces increasing competition from cable operators. TiVo isn't going down without a fight, however. First, the company has reduced the price for its devices and added additional subscription options. The company will now include its Home Media Option as a standard part of a customer's $12.95 subscription rate. The Home Media Option lets users schedule programs over the Internet, share programs among multiple TiVos in a household, view digital photos on the TV, and listen to music from the PC on home stereos. As part of the new pricing, customers with multiple TiVos will also get a discount on service for their other units; additional subscriptions will now cost only $6.95 a month. TiVo also hinted that in the near future, it will launch subscription services that will let viewers download TV programs and movies through broadband. As more and more cable operators start to offer integrated set-top boxes with personal video recorder (PVR) features to their customers, paying TiVo for a standalone box will become a much harder sell
