TiVo may give away free set-top boxes

Facing increasing competition, TiVo on Monday said it is considering giving away TiVo set-top boxes as part of its plan to win subscribers.

TiVo experimented, successfully, with ‘no up front fee’ pricing last fall, and in the Q4 con-call they said they’d be looking to do more pricing plans like that, so it isn’t a surprise. I’ve long said that they should have a cell phone style pricing structure. You can pay all up front or pay something for the box and a monthly rate. But if you’re willing to commit to terms of service – 1 year, 2 years – and/or a higher monthly fee, the up front cost is reduced or eliminated. So I’ll be happy to see them introduce this officially.

As for getting a free box – you can do that today with a refurb. Pre-pay for a year and get a ‘factory-renewed’ 40 hour box free. (Tip: When you activate a box, if you have a prepaid subscription for any period (3/6/12 months), you can activate as lifetime and apply the credit towards the cost of lifetime instead.)

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MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • xforge

    Mine’s a refurb of a version 1, and I *love* it. I just upgraded it to 200 hours. Now a network card…

  • dbldbl

    increasing competition? hmm, well how will the future partnership with Comcast cable help out TiVo?