TiVo has announced a new price plan (press release, PDF)whereby the DVR is included for “free” in the monthly service fee. Here are some details on the new pricing structure:

• $16.95/month or $469 prepaid with 3-year commitment
• $18.95/month or $369 prepaid with 2-year commitment
• $19.95/month or $224 prepaid with 1-year commitment

Each of these monthly fees include an 80 hour Series 2 TiVo. The new pricing structure is supposed to go into effect next week.

Along with this news, TiVo has also announced that they are going to get rid of the lifetime subscription plan. In my opinion, this is the biggest news from today’s announcement. The lifetime subscription plan allowed anybody to pay some cold hard cash up front and never have to send another dollar to TiVo. I really think this was a mistake on TiVo’s part. I understand why they did it however, die hard TiVo fans like having the lifetime subscription as an option. Like Dave Zatz said, we’ll just have to wait and see what the market thinks…

I’ve considered purchasing a lifetime subscription on one of my TiVos however; I haven’t been able to pull the trigger. There are really two reasons why I haven’t forked over $299.

1. High Price Tag: I find it hard for me to justify paying $299 for a lifetime subscription when the monthly subscription fee is only $12.95 ($6.95 with multiple DVRs). If the lifetime subscription were a little less, I would probably go ahead and purchase it. In order to recoup my money back, I would have to own my DVR for at least 23 months ($299/$12.95). Some people will say that 23 months doesn’t seem like a long time however; in terms of tech gadgets this is a lifetime. Besides, what would I do with my Series2 DVR when the Series3 (or whatever they call it) DVR comes out. I guess I could just keep my Series2 DVR however; a tech geek like me has a tough time using inferior technology ;).
2. Lifetime Subscription Policy: I’m a little concerned with how the lifetime subscription works. The lifetime subscription stays with whatever TiVo you apply it to. In other words, if you have a lifetime subscription on a TiVo box and it breaks for whatever reason, you had better get the box fixed or else you are out $299. TiVo’s policy explicitly states that you are unable to transfer the lifetime subscription to another box. I understand why TiVo does this however; this policy has prevented me from purchasing the subscription.

Do you have a lifetime subscription on your TiVo? If yes, why did you decide to purchase the lifetime service instead of just paying a monthly fee?