Both Dave Zatz and a TiVo Community member have reported that TiVo plans to discontinue their rewards program sometime in the near future. Unlike the TiVo Community thread, Dave Zatz went ahead and contacted his TiVo rep. to get some more details. According to Dave’s rep, April 28th will be the last day that you can earn points and May 28th will be the last day you can redeem your points.

Based on this information, I’ve gone ahead and used up all of my rewards points on a TiVo HD and two TiVo t-shirts (which I’ll probably give away on this site). Prior to this news, I had planned on waiting for TiVo to add new items to the program but, now it looks like that won’t happen. I’ve been meaning to post something about the lack of new items that are available via the rewards program however, it looks like that post is no longer needed….

Thanks to this site’s faithful readers, I’ve been fortunate enough to receive a number of great items from the rewards program. In a little of three years I’ve referred 82 people via the rewards program! That being the case, I’m obviously very disappointed that TiVo is going to discontinue the program. Hopefully TiVo will reconsider this move because, I think if they discontinue the program they’re loosing out on a great opportunity to get new subscribers……

I’m embarrassed to say that American Idol is at the top of my Season Pass list. What’s at the top of your Season Pass list?

Yesterday, TiVo announced that Symantec has bought an advertising spot within CNET’s weekly TiVoCast program. While this isn’t necessarily great news for the consumer (after all, who really likes advertisements?) it definitely is good news for TiVo Inc. Acquiring advertisers for the TiVoCast program should put a little extra cash in TiVo’s wallet. I wonder how many other companies will start advertising using the TiVoCast system?

Gold Star Sponsor to Utilize Interactive Tags, Program Placement during CNET TiVoCast(TM) Interactive Ad Solutions Target Fast-Forwarding, VOD Viewers

ALVISO, Calif., Jan 24, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator and a leader in advertising solutions and television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), announced today that Symantec, the maker of Norton security software, has signed on as the first advertiser to sponsor Interactive Advertising during CNET’s TiVoCast program. As a sponsor, Symantec will utilize TiVo’s Interactive Tags and Program Placements for the Norton product line within CNET’s popular weekly 15-minute TiVoCast program, which provides viewers with the latest news and reviews in technology and consumer electronics.

TiVoCast delivers — with ease and free to TiVo subscribers — broadband video content on the PC directly to the television sets and living rooms of TiVo subscribers through the Showcases area on TiVo Central, the main menu of the TiVo service. TiVoCast provides users with an extensive variety of viewing content via the internet to choose from, including content from: CNET, The Onion, The New York Times and Break.com among others.

CNET viewers can click on a “thumbs-up” during the program to obtain more information about Norton products while being able to easily return to the exact place in the program they paused viewing. These tags provide advertisers with an efficient way to reach a live, time-shifted or fast-forwarding audience and to offer viewers further engagement through opt-in requests for more product information.

“These are exciting times for TiVo as we witness our interactive ad solutions gain momentum throughout the media industry and expand beyond linear television to include nontraditional distribution channels such as TiVoCast and Video on Demand,” said Karen Bressner, Senior Vice President of Advertising Sales at TiVo. “It seems apropos that the first TiVoCast Interactive Tags are appearing during a program that highlights how technology is evolving and impacting consumers. Symantec utilizing TiVo’s ad solutions during a ‘downloadable program’ enabling them to reach interactive viewers who prefer to control their own content.”

“TiVo has presented us with a new way of reaching consumers in an ‘on demand’ world,” said Sally Jenkins, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing for Symantec. “By embedding engaging interactive tags into the popular CNET program we will drive qualified traffic to our site and enable consumers to learn more about how to stay secure on the Internet by using Norton products.”

The Interactive Tags and Program Placement will direct consumers to a branded Norton Showcase on TiVo which includes long-form content and a special offer. Additionally, Symantec will promote their Norton products including the award-winning Norton Internet Security(TM) 2008, in Gold Star Sponsorship’s and Program Placement within TiVo.

Originally spotted on TiVoLovers.

Just yesterday, Stephen Mack (director of TiVoCast operations) announced that TiVo has added Barely Political (web) to their growing lineup of TiVoCast content.

You can subscribe to Barely Political via TiVoCentral online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV & Movies -> Barely Political.

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As a side note, I would like to thank David for putting me down as his TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks David. It really is appreciated!

MeeVee.com has teamed up with TiVo to offer online scheduling via the MeeVee website. With this announcement, MeeVee has joined Yahoo!TV, TVGuide.com, Zap2It and TiVo.com all of which provide a similar capability on their website.

Which remote scheduling website do you use? I’m a big fan of TiVo.com and I honestly haven’t found a reason why I should switch to one of the other third party options. In any case, it’s great to see TiVo continue to form partnerships. I guess if you’re a MeeVee.com user it’s nice to have this option available to you.

Spotted on TVSquad.com.

TiVoShanan just alerted me to the fact that TiVo has added a number of Holiday Guru Guides to TiVo Central Online. These guides will allow you to schedule a recording for many of the best Holiday shows with just one click.  Currently, there are four Guru Guides available:

• Music Specials and Holiday Concerts
• Holiday Cooking and Crafts
• A Very Vintage Christmas
• A Cerebral Celebration of Holidaze

Right now, I am blogging this from my iPod touch so, I am not able to link to the guides or TiVoShanan’s post on TC. I’ll update this post tomorrow morning with these links. I need to get to bed since my son will probably be up in five short hours. Sorry for an incomplete post. Check back tommorow if you don’t want to find the guides on your own.

Update (12/05/2007):  I don’t know how I missed it but, Nickelodeon has actually been available since October of this year.  Sorry about that……

TiVo seems to be adding new TiVoCast content on a weekly basis. This time around, they’ve added Nickelodeon as a TiVoCast channel.

You can subscribe to Nickelodeon via TiVoCentral online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV & Movies -> Nickelodeon.

Thanks for the tip Alex!

Earlier today, Stephen Mack (Director of TiVoCast operations) announced that Quilters TV has been added to TiVo’s growing list of TiVoCast content. You can subscribe to this program either by heading on over to TiVo Central Online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV & Movies (we still need a better way to organize all of the TiVoCast programs).

Even though Quilters TV isn’t my kind of program, I’m happy to see that TiVo continues to add new content. Now if only we could get some Videocasts from Revision3. How about Tekzilla?

Earlier today, Stephen Mack (director of TiVoCast operations) announced that TiVo has added Ultra Kawaii to their TiVoCast lineup. Ultra Kawaii’s moto is as follows:

Our simple goal is to showcase the cutest pets on the planet every week. How do we find our stars? From you. (They’re your pets, silly!)

You can subscribe to Ultra Kawaii via TiVoCentral online or by accessing the following menu item on your TiVo: TiVo Central -> Find Programs -> Download TV & Movies.

Ultra Kawaii hasn’t peeked my interest however, I am happy that TiVo continues to add additional content to the TiVoCast service. I personally would like to see some Revision3 shows on TiVoCast. What do you think Stephen? Can you make that happen?

Late last week I received the following questions from a TiVoBlog reader. Instead of just replying to the email directly, I thought it would be a good idea for me to post my reply here since others may have the same questions.

Hello Alex. Just discovered your site. Nice work. Alex I have a chance to get a Tivo Series 2 80 hour dual tuner DVR as a gift. I receive Comcast digital cable in Howard County Maryland. My questions to you are,

1).Can I record all if any of my digital channels?.

2).What do I need to do or buy to be able to burn movies or programs from my Tivo to a DVD, or transfer to my PC, or directly to an external DVD burner via USB or Firewire connection. My ultimate goal is to be able to turn my Tivo’ed programs into DVD’s. Thanks for any and all help.

Steve M.

Before I get into the response, you might want to check to see if you can get the TiVo software on your Comcast DVR. I know that you don’t live it the Northeast but, it’s worth a try…

1.) A dual tuner TiVo will allow you to record digital cable however, you are still going to need a set-top box in order for it to work. TiVo’s website has a great tutorial and video on how to setup a dual-tuner TiVo with a set-top box. If you don’t want to keep the set-top box, you might want to look into a TiVo HD or a Series 3 since both of these DVRs take advantage of the CableCARD technology. A CableCARD will eliminate the need for a set-top box.

2.) Burning TiVo recordings to a DVD is really simple. The easiest way is to do it is to go the “official” route and use Roxio Creator 9 on the PC or Roxio Toast on the Mac. Transferring shows to your PC is pretty straight forward. All you need to have is TiVoDesktop (free) from TiVo.com. On the Mac, you can either use Roxio Toast, Roxio Popcorn or TiVoDecode Manager.

I hope that answers your questions. Let me know if you need help with anything else…

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As a side note, I would like to thank both Richard, Jeffrey & Jonathan for putting me down as their TiVo rewards referrer. If you’d like to put me down as your referrer, all you need to do is enter my email address (raianoat AT gmail DOT com) when you activate your TiVo. Thanks Charles. It really is appreciated!