Watch What They Do, Not What They Say - Well, I guess I'm glad I didn't plunk down a grand on HDTiVo for DirecTV (which has been in limited availability in stores for about two months now).

Yesterday it was revealed that the Rupert Murdoch-owned satellite broadcaster has sold its 4% stake in TiVo. Coming just days after DirecTV's vice chairman stepped down from the DVR-maker's board of directors, the omens aren't good for TiVo (fully half of whom's subscribers are through the DirecTV partnership), even though DirecTV "insisted that relations between the two companies remained strong."

Ever more desperate to gain subscriber base (if not profits), TiVo also announced yesterday that it was adding the features from its "Home Media Option" (previously a $99 add-on) to its basic service, without raising prices. These include the ability to program your TiVo from anywhere via a web browser, to view photos and listen to mp3s stored on a computer, and to share programming among two TiVos in the same household. On the other hand, it's not clear whether these services will ever be available for DireTiVo models, which for various reasons have never been upgraded to the software version that runs HMO. I for one have always questioned whether fracturing the company's product lineup -- which now also includes a third type of software that runs on DVD-burners -- makes great marketing sense.

Finally, the NYTimes reported today that TiVo is experimenting with delivering full-length programs and movies to subscribers who connect their TiVos to a high-speed Internet connection. This concept doesn't involve on-demand streaming -- which can't yet be accomplished at high quality via most home ISPs. Consumers would instead order ahead, and the programming would be downloaded over time and stored for future viewing (presumably for a limited time). While the non-TiVo world might not think that's so great, we early adopters can probably be convinced since we are used to pre-planning our viewing via TiVo's time-shifting model anyway.

Of course, again, these features won't be available to the half of all TiVo owners who get service through DirecTV. It seems like an amazing expenditure of capital and know-how for roughly 800,000 users. Meanwhile, the holy grail for TiVo -- landing a solid contract to provide DVRs for a major cable company -- remains elusive. To sum up: the hands on the TiVo doomsday clock just moved a few more minutes toward midnight.