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TiVo to Drop Lifetime Service Plan
Thomas Hawk writes "TiVo held their most recent analyst conference call today and on the call announced that they will be dropping their lifetime subscription option as well as offering three new monthly no upfront fee TiVo plans combining their box and service for one year, two year and three year commitments. Additionally they announced that their highly anticipated Series 3 HDTV standalone model with CableCARD support will not be available until after "mid year," a new retail partnership with Radio Shack and the fact that the company is in solid discussions with other cable operators for deals similar to their previously announced Comcast initiative."
MythTV (www.mythtv.org) is looking better and better.
How exactly are they making it more difficult to avoid commercials? I still fast forward through them just like before. The only change I've noticed is more commercials support Tivo's "press thumbs up for more info" thing if you do watch them.
-- "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" -Optimus Prime
Do you know what a TiVo even does? It's a device that records your preferred television programming for later use so that you can watch after you are finished socializing, going outside, etc.
Well... at least I'll get a hell of a lot of money for my TiVo with lifetime sub on ebay.
Remember lifetime sub was for the lifetime of the unit, not your lifetime.
Also. The only thing that has changed is that they have dropped Lifetime subs and added more subscription options.
You'll still be able to go to a store and buy a unit, and get a service only subsription for $12 and change. You'll also be able to buy a second service only subscription and get the multi-service discount of $6 and change on the additional units.
The change is that if you don't want to eat the cost of a unit upfront, there are news subscription options where the cost is amortized for a couple of years.
While it doesn't look like a good sign that they are dropping lifetime for Series 2, it's not yet ruled out for the next generation. Here's hoping...
Here is a transcript of the full conference call and a quick take of the two most important minutes of that call that relate to the new pricing strategy.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
Then later in the Q&A portion:
So it sounds like lifetime for current models could possibly continue to be available at retail (though I can't say I've heard of a retail outlet offering a lifetime priced bundle), and the next gen HD is still yet to be determined.
The Radio Shack I frequented in the 1980s was a place with an amazing selection of electronics, hobbyist components, how-to guides, and spare parts, and had knowledgable hackers behind the counter who shared my love of technology and were likely building just as complex gadgets in their own basements as I was.
That place is dead, replaced by a cellphone and set-top-box store with a standard retail drone behind the counter whose blank stare glazes over at the merest mention of a Zener diode or anything else that isn't their newest mobile plan.
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The first Tivo I used was bought with a lifetime subscription in 1999, one of the original Philips models. It's since needed a replacement hard drive (at which point the original owner gave the box to me and upgraded to a newer model), and the modem port blew up (switched to the serial port and ultimately a TivoNet card); with those repairs it's still running fine. As of right now that puts this one at around $2.75/month for its lifetime.
The payback period for the lifetime subscription has been between 2 and 3 years of product use, well within the expected lifetime of the box. Even in the rare case where the Tivo fails before then, it usually adds something to the salvage value of the unit if sold on ebay. As such, I have advised everyone who purchases a Tivo that they should consider the lifetime subscription part of the purchase price of the unit, and to look at it as a 3 year purchase--after which they would normally expect another couple of years worth of free service before the hard drive fails and they need to spend more money.
Now I'm going to have to tell them something else altogether, as Tivo has just priced itself out of the market. Looks like it's time to get familiar with my local cable provider's DVR box.
You miscalculated in choosing the monthly fee option, I've had 6 TiVos since the year 2000, and always bought Lifetime. I've always sold those units later on eBay, or to friends, and recouped most, if not all of the Lifetime service I paid on them, which I would roll over to my next box. Lifetime service meant there was an increased value attached to your box, which you could recover when you sold it. The only time that monthly service made sense was if you knew you wouldn't have the box more than 23 months, and that you would never sell it, in any other situation, you were losing money, though if the box was your second unit, which made you eligible for $6.95/month pricing, it took more months to make Lifetime pay off...
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. --Robert A. Heinlein
TiVO has a deep patent portfolio that is starting to be leveraged against the companies that are ripping off their inventions. As each new box comes out, TiVO is reverse engineering it and finding patent violations.
TiVO also has 4-5 million boxes in service (far far more than number two), each with upgradeable operating systems. They can leverage this in a "google ads" kind of way to link TV content and internet-based advertising, and blow the doors off the competition.
As is often the case, people are missing the forest for the trees. People look at the PVRs as a recorder, or as a mechanism to deliver content on-demand (both of which are true). But the PVR a la TiVO will become a novel advertising stream, with click-through ads during television content that will be worth a mint and have the potential to revolutionize TV-based advertising models. Then TiVO will be giving the boxes away to get your ad revenue.
TiVO indexes the programming guide and descriptions of programs, categorizes them, and allows you to use this to set up your search and record functions. If all you want to do is record by time and date, and manually schedule each recording, then TiVO would be a waste of money. Sort of.
The thing is, TiVO is so easy to set up, even a grandmother can do it. And in business terms, that is extremely valuable.
Also, if you use some other PVR, you miss out on the TiVO experience. TiVO has broadband capabilities. You can schedule programming from your cell phone or computer. You can download shows to your iPod and watch them on a airplane, or download them to your laptop and watch them in the car.
And much more. But the untapped new advertising stream will be the kicker. When you see that little thumbs up come on while watching TV and you click through, TiVO will have gone far beyond other PVRs.
I've been checking up with some people in the know. You will are able to keep your lifetime.
Gone!
I would have agreed with the difficult part 3 days ago, but then I watched my buddy set one up from scratch in only a few hours. And that was on cheap, dated hardware. It works well and looks beautiful, here is the guide he used.
This is why I order from Jameco and Mouser more often than Digikey -- no handling fee for small orders. Plus Jameco can ship USPS which is cheaper than UPS or FedEx for small packages.
And while there is a local electronics shop in this town, they're way on the other side of town, and usually more expensive than Radio Shack. They do have a much better selection however, so they're at least an option if I need something today.
"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."