TiVo now has a new subscription program. Under this new program, you will given a 40 hour TiVo for free. The only “catch” is that you must agree to sign up for a one year subscription and pay a higher monthly subscription fee of $16.95. There are also a couple of other fine points to keep in mind.
- If you cancel your subscription you will be charged a $150 cancellation fee
- TiVos purchased under this offer are not eligible for the multi-TiVo discount
- There is a 30-day money back guarantee
- The DVR cannot be used with a lifetime subscription
- The offer is only valid between 11/8/2005 and 11/29/2005
I don’t think I’ll be taking advantage of this offer however; it’s not a bad idea to give the consumer another type of subscription plan. Often times people are reluctant to get a TiVo because of the upfront cost of having to buy the box. Now with this plan you can get into a TiVo without any out of pocket expenses. The only question I have is if the monthly subscription fee goes down after a year. If this is the case, then this really isn’t a bad deal. To take advantage of this offer head on over to TiVo’s website.
First seen on ZatzNotFunny (damn that guy is good).
From the fine print: “Upgrades to product lifetime service not permitted”. It doesn’t say anything about after the first 12 months though.
So you pay about $200 for a 40 hour TiVo plus 1 year of service.
If you buy it separately you pay $50 (after rebate) for the TiVo plus about $150 for the first year of service.
It comes out to almost exactly the same price (a few dollars cheaper), you pay monthly instead of all at once and you don’t have to deal with rebates (as far as I can tell). There seems to be no downside if it’s your first TiVo you are buying.
The only risk I see is if they try to charge you the $16.95/mo after you initial 1 year commitment. It seems that even if they did you should be able to cancel yuour service and immediately re-activate. Still I’d get clarification on that before I signed up.
Another offer “valid in the US only” (like the regular $150 rebate). It’s nice that they support Canadian users now, but it would be even nicer if we could get in on the cheap TiVos, too!
[...] It’s almost hard to believe that you can now get a Series2 40 hr. TiVo for only $19.99 after a $150 mail in rebate (via PVRWire). It truly is amazing how much the cost of a TiVo has come down. I spent $200 on my 60 hr TiVo a year and a half ago! Now you can basically get a TiVo for free. If only I could convince my wife that we need another TiVo . With prices being so low, it’s a good thing for TiVo that only 50% to 60% of new subscribers actually send in a rebate offer! [...]