Digital Home Thoughts: TiVo: Officially Jumped the Shark

News has been coming out about TiVo's pricing changes, and though the investors may be happier, frankly, I think they'll see sales plummet and subscriptions drop dramatically in the coming months. You see, TiVo's attractiveness was (at least for me) the low subscription price. Just $12.95 per month. Cheaper than a DVR from Time Warner, with all the benefits of the program guide and recording functionality. Even better, it has an interface my mother could love (and she does!). Recent enhancements have made it an even better deal, with the ability to stream music and photos from my PC, download shows to a Portable Media Center, share files between TiVo boxes, and setup recordings over the internet...no wonder TiVo fanatics are, well, fanatical!

But with these recent pricing changes, that advantage over cable and satellite providers has disappeared. If you ask me, consumers don't want to be locked into a multi-year service plan. Those that do would have already purchased a lifetime subscription, which is no longer being offered. The only way to get anything close to the original $12.95 per month fee previously offered, is to pre-pay for 3 years of service at a cost of $469! If you want the old $12.95 per month plan, get a box at retail, otherwise expect to pay alot more for monthly TiVo service.

Perhaps we should interview the management at TiVo and find out: what were they thinking? :?