Starting today, changes are coming to TiVo service pricing. In most cases, pricing goes down, or the minimum commitment gets shorter. The one place where the pricing is going up is on the Multi-Service discount pricing:
As far as we understand, this pricing is for NEW activations of units. Existing units should be grandfathered in to current pricing, or should be able to be changed to lower pricing, if available, when their current commitment is over.
Finally, there’s a way to start getting lifetime service again – this time for $399 . . . but you have to be a current TiVo customer (meaning you have a box on an account with active service) and you can add a new unit, and get lifetime for $399. So essentially, this is like “lifetime multi-service” for $399. But theoretically, if/when the main box on your account comes to the end of its term, this will become the main unit on your account, and all others should renew at the MSD fee. Anyway, this is valid until February 13, 2008.
Want lifetime, even as a new customer? You can still get it on our Humax DVD TiVo DVRs.
See TiVo’s pricing plans page for more info.
32 replies on “New TiVo Service Pricing”
I have lifetime for my series 2 Tivo and want to put transfer to a HDTivo? What can I do? Any other costs and it is easier to use someone else’s DVR.
My situation is similar to Steven’s (6/24/08).
I own 2 series 2 Tivos w/Weeknee upgrades
with Tivo lifetime service for each. If I replace my lower capacity tivo with a new series 3 HD w/Weeknees upgrade, do I have to buy another
lifetime contract or can I just switch the Tivo
units and get rid of that Series 2 TiVo?
You’d need a new lifetime contract. Lifetime is tied to the box, and is generally not transferable. The only exceptions are:
a) extremely old boxes (7 years or more)
b) offers from TiVo, which generally cost $199
I have a Series 1, authorized for lifetime by Tivo in early 2002. What are my options for getting the lifetime transferred to a Series 3 HD?
Correction to my earlier post today, activation date on Series 1 was actually 9/14/01, not 2002. Pls advise on lifetime transfer options to Series 3 HD. Tnx!
We really don’t remember the exact cut-off date. You’d have to call TiVo to ask. Their number is 888-921-8486.
The lifetime rate is now $299 for existing TiVo customers.
I currently have a Series II DT with a wireless connection to my home network. Does the Tivo HD XL unit also support a wireless network connection? Thank you.
My situation is the same as the others. Why can’t we just keep our box with lifetime service and add the HD units as MSDs? The only prob I see is that, I ass-u-me, the old box would have to remain connected but it could be connected in another room and hooked up to update via phone line and not really be involved with the HDs. I don’t even think it would have to be connected to a TV, would it? Or am I just way off base here?
And another question, what is the diff between Series 3 and HD XL?
th
Scott – the XL does support wireless.
sfcarl – You do still get the MSD discount.
We have a full comparison of the three units that do HD on our site – there’s a link here:
http://www.weaknees.com/3
For an existing TIVO customer, is there a promo code to get the $299 lifetime rate on another box?
After logging into my TIVO account, I could only find the $399 lifetime rate offer.
Appreciate any help.
Thank you much!
You have to be activating a new box to get that offer. It doesn’t apply if you are converting an existing unit to lifetime service, as far as I know.
I have a Toshiba sd h400 with the Basic service, no fees. Would I be eligible for a lifetime on a new TiVo HD XL?
Thanks
Linda the Ever Hopeful
Hmm. That’s a good question. Do you have an account on TiVo.com? Can you login there and see this unit?
Our guess is that the answer is “no” but we’d really like to find out. Can you see about the login, for starters, and post back?
I have never created an account with Tivo. I just accessed ‘ My Account ‘ on the Tivo website and created a login. According to my new ‘My Account’ I do not have a DVR activated, even tho they update my Basic every 24 hrs. The only way to get a DVR activated is to opt for a fee based subscription. I tried to input my toshiba/Tivo service # but it won’t stay without opting for fee based sevice.
I am confused by the statement ‘Lifetime service available for existing TiVo subscrbers for a limited time only!’ when I view the TiVo HD DVR for Cable boxes.
There is another box on your web page which states –$399 for new TiVos activated on a new TiVo account.
So I guess my question is can I Lifetime subscribe with your Tivo HD / Tivo HD XL ?
Thanks
Linda, Still Hopeful
Yes – you definitely can get lifetime. The key is that you’ll pay $399 for it, versus $299 if you were to already have a subscribed TiVo. It seems that the free subscription from your Toshiba doesn’t make you eligible for that $100 discount on the service for the TiVo HD XL.
But you can definitely get lifetime service on the new unit for $399.
Thank you Michael.
Here’s a trick straight from Tivo Cust Service… if you have Lifetime and your box “breaks” outside of warranty, then you can transfer the service to you new box.
Kurt –
I really don’t know that to be the case – at this point, generally TiVo doesn’t like to move lifetime service at all, as far as I know.
Kurt,
Can you tell me how to do that? I just had a conversation with TiVo tech support. He thinks something is wrong with my TiVo because the cable box won’t talk to the TiVo. He offered an HDXL plus transfer of my lifetime service for $800. The transfer was $299.
Who? How to do what?
As far as I udnerstand if u have a set that is within Waranty and the manufacturer is not able to fix the problem and a similar model is no longer available for replacement, than you are provided with the option in purchasing a new set with a free transfer of the lifetime service.
Well, I really don’t know that to be the case, but the warranty on most of these is only six months anyway, so that would only apply to a small percentage of units.
If I have a very old tivo (2000) with a lifetime service agreement, is it possible to transfer that to a new HD tivo?
not unless it was online prior to Jan (not sept.) 2001 according to the tivo rep I just talked to. My sony series one went online in spring 2001. darn. (but the unit still works) ~m
I’d like to clarify something about the lifetime membership. Is it correct that it’s for the lifetime of the TIVO box,not the person who owns it? So, if the box fails, you have no lifetime membership, since it does not transfer to a news box, and you must either re-purchase a lifetime with a new box, or default to another sort of paid plan? Seems like a ripoff to me if that is the case.
If i have this wrong, please let me know what the deal is. Thanks.
DS: I agree, but it’s only a ripoff because they call it “lifetime” service. If they billed it as “Pay-once” or something it would be easier to swallow. At around $13/month that gets you around 2 1/2 years of service; after that point you’ve gotten a good deal. we’ve had our tivo for 5 yrs so even though the non-transferability is frustrating, it’s still been a good deal.
We have owned our series 1 for at least 7 years. We bought it used with lifetime already activated. We upgraded the drive a few years ago with a wk drive. We never registered with tivo online, so it seems we are not eligible for upgrade offers. 2 questions. How do we register an existing account and would that jeopardize our lifetime status? Would its original in-service date apply? It may well be prior to Jan ’01.
I had 2 tivo’s with lifetime service and both broke before 2 years and would have to buy a 3rd lifetime subscription. (ripoff, payed $800.00 for 3 years subscription)
I decided to buy a moxi with has no subscription fees…
I love it better then tivo and will never go back.
Question: does your service offer a hard drive upgrade for moxi as it only has a 500 gb drive. I know I can plug in a bigger one but I like it to be internal.
My TIVO HD no longer functions correctly & is out of warranty. TIVO says I can exchange it for a refurbished one for $149 & keep my lifetime.
As to the swallowing of lifetime subscription price. The subscriptions is for the lifetime of the box, not the owner. So if your 10 year old series 1 keeps kicking along kudos. you’ve gotten your money out of it. I bought a used series 2 for $175 with lifetime and I broke even 6 months ago. I’ve since updated the drive to a 500 and plan to do another 500 as a dual drive. I have back up power supplies from other series 2’s incase it fails. The bottom line is if the main board cooks, you lose lifetime subscription. I was told once that it was possible to clone the lifetime part of the board and tell an HD tivo it’s a series 2 but I have not yet found the answers to that while searching.
I really don’t think it’s possible to move or clone a lifetime unit. The service is the bread and butter of TiVo’s product, and TiVo, rightly-so, keeps people from being able to monkey with it.