TiVo business model

[admin_exported]

I'm moving house and so I'm looking to compare the three triple-play providers. BT fall at the first fence because they don't offer HD so I'm down to two.

Obviously SkyAtlantic is a big driver to me, but so is a heavy-duty on-demand and catch-up service. I also would like two boxes.

Virgin therefore come in quite a bit cheaper (I may well have to lose SkyAtlantic, but that's why God invented box sets, right?), but I am a little angry that Virgin want to charge me £5.00 a month just to use the TiVo. You know, the one I'm paying £50 for (the larger capacity) anyway. They don't offer any other PVR and I am a grown up. I know what I want to watch and don't need some program telling me what I should be watching. I certainly don't want to pay for the privilege!

Anybody know why (other than greed or a poor business model) this has to be the case? Anybody managed to negotiate their way out of it?

 

[DandyCobalt]

TiVo well worth paying for. and if it breaks then they'll just give you another box. Unlike Sky boxes, which break at 13 months.

 

[John Duncan]

If you're a new customer they have fantastic deals, so I wouldn't think of it in terms of 'an extra 5 quid' tbh. We moved to one of them from a much more expensive package (70 quid down to 30 I think) and came out of it with a Tivo box and 30meg broadband (up from ten) and haven't missed the extra channels we removed (though the kids freaked out for a while). The router's sh-t though...

 

[ukdavej]

In reverse to Mr Duncan, I just upgraded all mine. I was on 10mb BB and TV but wanted an extra box as daughter No1 has decided she cannot afford to live in her own place and has come home to roost (she watches TV like no other person in the universe! and I didn't want her camped out in the "best room" 10 hours a day) Anyhow, I blagged a 1TB Tivo and XL TV, kept my existing V+ box for the extra one (they don't give you a second box with the "+" functionality) 60mb BB and anytime phone. Cost £66 but reduced to £55 for the first 6 months which I didn't think was bad. Have to agree with John about the router/hub thingy - very sleek and blue lights etc but needs re-booting regularly as the wireless sometimes stops working.

One thing to watch though, the phone doesn't offer caller display as standard. I have had this with BT for so long I never even considered I wouldn't get it. Apparently, it costs £2.25 extra PER MONTH! - needless to say, a friendly word with cancellations and I now have it tagged on gratis .

Going back to the initial theme of the thread, the TIVO box is pretty awsome although I did make a bit of a fool of myself when I told my daughter to use her own box for recording her stuff and not fill mine up. Turned out to be the box itself on the basis of what people had been watching over a weekend when I was away. This feature I find a little un-nerving!