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TiVo Wins The Award: Best Way To Say We Screwed Up Our Pricing

Say That Again

from the doubletalk-deluxe dept

Wed, Mar 8th 2006 6:49pm — Mike Masnick
There really isn't that much to say about TiVo's decision to get rid of its lifetime subscription plan (just as they're ditching the upfront hardware fee). However, we have to give TiVo points for the amount of doubletalk in the explanation, which, boiled down simply is: "we were losing money on the liftetime plans." Instead of just coming out and saying that, they said: "We understand it's a great value, but in balancing trying to provide customers with great value and our own business interests, we think it was too far in favor of good value to make sense for us financially." In other words, people who bought into the lifetime plan got a pretty good deal.
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26 Comments

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  • identicon
    KickenChicken, 8 Mar 2006 @ 7:26pm

    Why TIVO anymore

    Let's see:
    TimeWarner DVR (2 tuners) for 6.99 month
    or Tivo for 18.99 month (1 tuner better software)

    I'll have to stick with Time Warner even though I love Tivo

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2006 @ 7:49pm

      Re: Why TIVO anymore

      I love Tivo, but with all the 'free' or 'near-free' DVR's out there...how can they even justify a monthly fee...how do they plan to stay in business. Considering they haven't made strong partnerships with Microsoft or Apple, they are a ship on their own that will sink eventually.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      jb, 9 Mar 2006 @ 4:17am

      Re: Why TIVO anymore

      TIVO really picked a bad time to change its pricing structure. In todays world it is far to easy to make your own PC pased version of TIVO that includes a DVD backup. The PC version can be made for the cost of two years of TIVO service.
      This alone makes you wonder why they would think the $299 lifetime subscription is very good value Not to mention the cable providers also have PVR's built in. My current PVR is $4.95 a month.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2006 @ 6:48am

      Re: Why TIVO anymore

      MythTV box (3 tuners, file server, web server, ssh access, homeautomation via x10, open source software) for $0.00 a month

      I think that I will stick to mine.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      TiVo User, 9 Mar 2006 @ 9:01am

      Re: Why TIVO anymore

      What about the Series 3 coming out with HD support, CableCard and 2 tuners?
      Hmmm...crappy cable company menu structure, no method of transferring to PC or DVD, $10 box rental, $5 service fee - or - TiVo...I think it's pretty clear.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Michael Pate, 8 Mar 2006 @ 8:28pm

    Lifetime Holder since 2000

    I bought a Series 1 a long time ago and I bought the lifetime service for it that very Christmas morning. It is still going strong.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Carpe Diem, 8 Mar 2006 @ 9:15pm

      Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

      Wow now that's value for money!

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 8 Mar 2006 @ 9:32pm

        Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

        I've been with TiVo on a lifetime subscription for about 4 years now. The cost of a lifetime subscription was $299 which is just under two years of payment ($12.99 x 24 months comes to $311.74).

        The past two years have been completely free of charge to me, and all the upcoming years will also be completely free of charge.

        I hear that mid-March (within about 11 days from today), they will no longer offer the lifetime service - so if you have TiVo, now is the time to invest in a nice service upgrade... and if that isn't enough incentive, I hear they will be upping the month-to-month rate of $12.99 to a whopping $19.95 per month for a minimum of 12 months at a time, which is $239/year.

        Upgrade to lifetime now for $299 or pay $239/year..... yeah, lifetime sounds good.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Benjamin, 8 Mar 2006 @ 10:59pm

          Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

          Whynot make your own "tivo", with a nice tv tuner and a PC...I think the TV tuners they sell now even have both HD and "tivo" like qualities.

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Scott, 9 Mar 2006 @ 5:50am

            Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

            The problem with that will be the Broadcast Flag once everything goes digital. If(note when) congress gives in the big media companies, if your hardware has been approved by the gestapo, too bad.

            It is a shame, because there are some really good free systems out there, but big media can't stand free.

            [ link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              Scott, 9 Mar 2006 @ 6:06am

              Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

              Dang, let me write that in English now:

              The problem with that will be the Broadcast Flag once everything goes digital. If(note when) Congress gives in to the big media companies, if your hardware has not been approved by the gestapo, too bad.

              It is a shame, because there are some really good free systems out there, but big media can't stand free.

              [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Wizard Prang, 9 Mar 2006 @ 7:52am

          Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

          >>> I hear they will be upping the month-to-month rate of $12.99 to a whopping $19.95 per month for a minimum of 12 months at a time, which is $239/year. <<< br>
          Where did you hear that?

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          MGray, 9 Mar 2006 @ 9:15am

          Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

          Grr. Second time I'm correcting this error. Tivo is not explaining itself well.

          They are NOT UPPING the monthly from 12.99 to $19.95.
          They are offering NEW Tivo's to customers for $19.99 with NO UPFRONT COST (you pay for the Tivo over time).

          So that $19.99 with no initial hardware cost. It's actually a pretty good deal, and should increase the customer cost. After 1 or 2 or 3 years of paying the higher price (which you pick) the price drops to the regular 12.99 a month.

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Kevin, 8 Mar 2006 @ 9:32pm

      Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

      I hope so because if you bought a TIVO in 2000 you payed a pretty penny. I payed $100.00 for my dvr from DISH, works great.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2006 @ 11:59am

      Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

      > I bought a Series 1 a long time ago and I bought the lifetime service for it that very Christmas morning. It is still going strong.< br>
      --> Read the fine print. That "lifetime" service contract is for the lifetim of the Series 1 box, not your lifetime. If you buy a new Tivo or upgrade it's hard drive, the service subscription no longer applies.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2006 @ 12:45pm

        Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

        the fine print pertains to the box, not the HD. but then again, if you open the box to get to the HD, you've violated your warranty, invalidating the service to your box. so while you may upgrade your hd as often as you like while still being covered by the lifetime subscription, you'd better home that you dont break the box while doing it - because in the event you do, that is what tivo will not fix for you.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        nick, 7 Sep 2007 @ 4:53am

        Re: Re: Lifetime Holder since 2000

        Your not correct. My series 1 failed I did an exchange with phillips (the manufacturer) the lifetime service was transfered. I them upgrade to a series 2 and the lifetime was transfered to that one. The harddrive is failing now in this and I spoke with a TIVO rep. He told me to watch every couple of months the give an opportunity to upgrade to a better unit and transfer the lifetime contract.
        All that said obviously TIVO has some hardware issues. But I have tried other DVRs and there is no comparison.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    JonnyRo, 8 Mar 2006 @ 9:22pm

    Tivo Hard drive replacement

    It's just too easy to replace a broken hard drive. Anyone who has the lifetime subscription can just keep rolling on once their hard drive goes out.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Kevin, 8 Mar 2006 @ 9:37pm

      Re: Tivo Hard drive replacement

      DISH replaced my DVR free of charge when the HD blew, oh and the service is a whopping $7.00 a month.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Tony GIorgianni, 8 Mar 2006 @ 11:11pm

        Re: Tivo Hard drive replacement

        I pay $0.00 per month for TIVO. THe unit is almost 100% fuctional without paying a monthly subscripton. You can program the unit for time shift by getting program information from your local paper or from sites like TV guide on-line. Program manually by station or time and works great. Tivo is charging a lot of loot for an on line TV Guide. Yes it does take a few extra seconds to program the unit but I don,t mind doing that for free. The rest of the live features such as pausing, ff, reverse or staring a recording of a program that is about to start or has already started is duck soup. You can even view a previous recording while Tivo records your new program. You can set it up so you can watch one station while you record antoher. ALL FOR FREE!

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          angel, 3 May 2006 @ 7:28pm

          Re: Re: Tivo Hard drive replacement

          Is there a way for me to be able to record again? My tivo series 2000 is not under the sub. anymore. But because of the 3.1 version of the software i can't record anything. Can you help?

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Thomas, 18 Jun 2006 @ 10:34pm

      Re: Tivo Hard drive replacement

      Until TIVO goes under, which will happen soon. The business model does not make sense - they have yet to actually make money. There is a time limit to how long they will be in business, and once they fold, all lifetime subscriptions still in effect will be terminated.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jon Brown, 9 Mar 2006 @ 1:46am

    Too Bad

    It's too bad about TiVo. So promising, but it looks like they're going to be the next BetaMax (I'm old, I remember this battle - I had one of those too...) I think the failure is that they got early adopters, like me (I've got 3 series 2 live now, and a series 1 offline in the closet) and then failed to reach the masses in time. Raising the price of service isn't going to do anything for their market share, unfortunately, and will just make the boxes from the cable stations that much more compelling an offer. Oh well, it is a cool gadget that I love using, but there are some really viable substitutes that cost less and are easier to buy.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jon Brown, 9 Mar 2006 @ 1:50am

    One More Thing

    Might be worth taking a look at this related article if you're looking for alternatives to TiVo.

    http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70328-0.html?tw=rss.index

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    CoolHandLuke, 9 Mar 2006 @ 5:31am

    TiVo vs. others

    Is there really anything worth while on TV to record?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    moondookie, 14 Apr 2006 @ 7:23am

    Tivo membership

    I recently signed up for a Brand New Tivo series 2 80hrDVR with a 1 year subscription on March 20th. The upfront cost was $19.95 plus california tax for a total upfront cost of $38.10.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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