TVGOS to be reinvented?

MacroVision abruptly announced this morning that it is changing its corporate name to "ROVI" (the middle four letters of "macrovision"- how much did they pay a consulting firm to come up with that gem?). The reason? They will launch (in 2010) a new hardware/software service to be called "Liquid", which from the description posted today on TWICE sounds suspiciously like a refined, more advanced form of TVGOS:


"Liquid has three main parts: a TV content guide, broadband content guide and personal content guide. The TV guide will provide comprehensive information on consumers' broadcast/cable channel programming. The broadband guide will direct users to diverse Web-based offerings, including movies, music and social networking activities. Consumers also will be able to customize their experience with the personal content guide, as well as organize photos and home videos for home theater viewing."


"After people use Liquid repeatedly, the guide will learn what programming most interests them and highlight options accordingly. Liquid also creates a distinct profile for each user so different family members can tailor their programming for personal tastes."


"In addition to Blockbuster, Liquid is also signed on to pull Web-based programming information from confirmed content partners Flixster, a movie-geared social networking site, personalized music site Slacker and YouTube."


We see today's announcement of the Liquid guide as the next step in delivering on our new vision and mission to power the discovery and enjoyment of digital content, said Fred Amoroso, president and CEO of Rovi Corp. By uniting all forms of digital media into one interactive and personalized source, we believe our new guide solution sets the bar for how we'll experience home entertainment in the future.


No hardware deals have been made yet, so who knows how this will play out for new DVD recorders or any other new standalones (or whether the presumed new signal will have components available to older TVGOS hardware). And yes, the new "ROVI" company will still be the main supplier of copy protection technology to the movie/tv industry. BTW, who the hell came up with "ROVI"? Do they seriously think thats a more attractive moniker than "MacroVision"? I bet it was the same brain-dead consulting firm that told Sci-Fi channel it should change to "Sy-Fy" (uuuuugggggghhhhhh!)