Antennas Direct Partners with TiVo

TiVo Antenna Deal A couple of weeks ago we got wind of TiVo’s half-price service promotion for antenna users. Today Antennas Direct put out a press release to announce that they’re partnered with TiVo to promote this deal on their site.

The press release:

The rapid shift of consumers cancelling pay TV is creating new alliances aimed at freeing consumers from the high cost of traditional pay TV. One such partnership has been formed between Antennas Direct, a leading manufacturer of television antennas, and TiVo, pioneers of the digital video recorder (DVR). This partnership, whose goal is to encourage over-the-air viewership, is the first-of-its-kind between an antenna manufacturer and TiVo.

“Most consumers are still unaware that HDTV is free, and that TiVo DVRs contain a DTV tuner, allowing that free HDTV broadcast to be viewed and recorded,” said Richard Schneider, president of Antennas Direct. “When paired with a digital antenna, TiVo is the multichannel provider of the 21st century, integrating broadband and over-the-air digital content at a fraction of the cost of cable.”

As part of this exclusive partnership, Best Buy has teamed with Antennas Direct and TiVo to carry a promotional package featuring a free ClearStream 2 ($100 MSRP) with purchase of a TiVo Premiere box for $99.99. The TiVo Premiere subscription is available for $9.95 per month, a special rate only available for use with an antenna. This special offer is valid through October 2.

“The Antennas Direct partnership with TiVo marries both state of the art antennas and DVR’s in one affordable package to unlock the full potential of digital, over-the-air and broadband television,” said Schneider. “TiVo has created the first system to integrate over-the-air HDTV and broadband content in one easy to use device, the combination of which is turning the pay TV business model on its head.”

Today, more than 46 million households view television through an antenna, up from 42 million just one year ago. That number continues to grow as consumers cancel pay TV service in record numbers. The Antennas Direct and TiVo alliance will liberate millions from an unhappy relationship with their pay TV provider while putting over a billion dollars back in the pockets of consumers.

They’re selling TiVo Premiere units and network adapters directly through the Antennas Direct store. As well as promoting the $99.99 Best Buy Long-Range Antenna & TiVo Premiere bundle special we mentioned in our earlier post.

While the press release calls this an announcement, I noticed that Antennas Direct mentioned this promotion on their blog back on August 31, so I’m not sure why they waited to put out the press release.

While the press release says this is an exclusive deal, I’ll note that Solid Signal is offering the same promotion on their site.

About MegaZone

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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  • Onewealthyone

    why is it worth 10-20 dollars a month?? Just to record what I own?

    • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

      Well, first of all, you don’t own any of the content.  OTA content is still owned by the creators under copyright.  You have limited rights to record under fair use, but you never own it.

      And you’re not paying for the content.  If you have another way to record that doesn’t require any payments, you can.  You’re paying for the product and service you’re using *to* record, not the recording itself.

      The main cost is the guide data, it isn’t free.  Some free data is included in ATSC via PSIP, but it only goes out a couple of hours and it is often unreliable and incomplete.  TiVo uses much richer guide data supplied by Tribune Media Services.  But guide data, just the listings, is still copyrighted content and it is not made available for free.  TMS has agreements with providers to aggregate the data and resell it.  TiVo has to pay TMS for each user of the data, and that cost is part of that is passed on to you.

      Aside from that, TiVo needs to pay to maintain the server infrastructure that provides the data and other broadband services  to their customers.  They have to pay for the bandwidth used, the power, cooling, IT staff, HW, etc.

      They also sell the consumer boxes are a loss using a subsidized business model, like cell phones.  It lowers the cost of entry, but they rely on the subscription revenue to make up for it in the long run.

      Basically there are a number of things that go into the monthly fee.  Or product lifetime service, which is what I recommend.

    • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

      Well, first of all, you don’t own any of the content.  OTA content is still owned by the creators under copyright.  You have limited rights to record under fair use, but you never own it.

      And you’re not paying for the content.  If you have another way to record that doesn’t require any payments, you can.  You’re paying for the product and service you’re using *to* record, not the recording itself.

      The main cost is the guide data, it isn’t free.  Some free data is included in ATSC via PSIP, but it only goes out a couple of hours and it is often unreliable and incomplete.  TiVo uses much richer guide data supplied by Tribune Media Services.  But guide data, just the listings, is still copyrighted content and it is not made available for free.  TMS has agreements with providers to aggregate the data and resell it.  TiVo has to pay TMS for each user of the data, and that cost is part of that is passed on to you.

      Aside from that, TiVo needs to pay to maintain the server infrastructure that provides the data and other broadband services  to their customers.  They have to pay for the bandwidth used, the power, cooling, IT staff, HW, etc.

      They also sell the consumer boxes are a loss using a subsidized business model, like cell phones.  It lowers the cost of entry, but they rely on the subscription revenue to make up for it in the long run.

      Basically there are a number of things that go into the monthly fee.  Or product lifetime service, which is what I recommend.

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  • http://www.aerialconcept.co.uk/tv-aerial tv aerial

    Hello..
    I was not aware about it. I am glad I visited here and come to know about it. I was looking for the updates related to the antenna and reached here.