I wonder if they were able to calculate the % of people moving away from TiVo to cable/satellite DVRs (retention %)? If 90-95% of the people are not using all the bells and whistles TiVo has (ToGo service, DVD burning in Humax Tivos, or networking and uploading files from your PC or shared music and photos) then this is a MONEY LOSING PROPOSITION. For you and me who have the goodies (life time subscription and TiVo to go) then it's worth it.
Steps like this are not taken lightly, they must have calculated the ##s. I have an extended warranty on my Tivo that was already replaced once after the lightning storm and I had my life time subscription transfer to the new one. I hope it works right before my warranty runs out and I can replace it again :o) for a life time subscription :o) Sincerely, IGGY Dybal -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 6:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [TiVo Central] No more lifetime subscriptions / my analysis So TiVo has quietly stopped selling lifetime subscriptions to their service; a momentous event, to be sure! Clearly, TiVo has every right to take such an amazing deal off the table, but they've certainly muddied the waters for future DVR subscribers. For one thing, it's no longer a slam-dunk when it comes to recommending TiVo to friends. I've always told people that a cable/satellite DVR might be cheaper in the short term, but when you factor in TiVo's feature set and lifetime subscription, for the long term, they definitely want a TiVo. I actually had this very conversation with a friend a week or so ago. However, given her situation, I'm going to have to call her back and reverse my recommendation. Money is an issue for her, and I don't think she will care as much about the additional TiVo features as others do. She's also kind of a technophobe and having an additional box to set up will probably be less attractive than whatever her satellite company will set up for her. Now I'm a Time-Warner cable subscriber, and this decision also makes the future of my own DVR use uncertain. If I need to add an additional recorder to my setup, I'll have to consider whether the additional features on the new box are worth the "TiVo premium". Today, the best TiVo deal offered on the web is a free 80GB box with a 3 year subscription for $469.00 (note: this could be different tomorrow; it was certainly different yesterday). In any case, if I were to buy a new box today, at best I'd be looking at $20.03/month which breaks down as follows: $469 / 36 months plus $7 per month for the additional cable box. An additional cable DVR would be $12.95/month. So in my case, the "TiVo premium" is $7.08/month. Is it worth it? Well given that I already have TiVo, probably not. I wouldn't be able to transfer shows to a new cable DVR, but with TiVo2Go on my old boxes and the ability to send shows to my laptop or burn them to DVD, that's not such a big deal. As for the other features like Wishlists, they would still be available on my old boxes. My bottom line is that as long as I have at least one working TiVo in the house, future additions will probably be cable DVRs. Others will have to do the math for themselves to figure out their own "Tivo premium" and then weigh TiVo's cool-features against DVR "features" like "only one box", less setup and lower price. Some on the TivoCommunity forums are ready to declare that TiVo has doomed itself. I hope not, because they still make a great product with some wonderful features. But I think it can be argued that the fanatical camp of TiVo evangelists is about to get a lot less crowded. Jim Yahoo! Groups Links Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tivocentral/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
