Comcast XFINITY On Demand Available To Boston TiVo Users NOW!

Posted on Thursday, June 7, 2012 by MegaZone

TiVo Central Comcast XFINITY On Demand We were a little premature with the announcement of XFINITY On Demand support for Boston area TiVo users ‘next week’ two weeks ago. Last week came and went without a launch. But it is a week later and this time we have launch! It is official, TiVo Premiere users with Comcast in the Boston area should have access to XFINITY On Demand starting today.

“TiVo Premiere has always offered the best of XFINITY TV channels with the most popular web services, and we are excited to now integrate the XFINITY On Demand library for Boston subscribers, delivering a true one-stop shop for at-home entertainment,” said Doug Bieter, Vice President of Retail Sales for TiVo, Inc. “We are pleased that TiVo Premiere users in the Boston area will have an opportunity to experience this great XFINITY On Demand content and we look forward to additional markets in the near future.”

TiVo states it is available in the ‘greater Boston area’, so it should cover a fairly large geographic area. The TiVo website has a zip code look up to determine if your area has service. I just checked my old Waltham, MA zip code, 02453, and the site reports that service is available. (These days I’m in Worcester, MA, 01606, which is Charter territory. So no XFINITY On Demand for me.)

There is a little bit of bad news though. If you’re one of the few users still clinging to the old ‘soft-TiVo’ (Comcast DVR with TiVo) that Comcast offered way back in 2008 in the area, it is time to give it up and buy a real TiVo. For those who don’t remember, this was a special software image for Comcast’s standard Motorola DVR hardware that gave it the TiVo UI. But it never worked very well as the hardware is under powered and you had the HW running the base OS, with a Java interpreter on top of that, which then ran the TiVo software. It was a great idea in concept, but it never worked well in reality. So I don’t think this is a big loss, and the retail TiVo Premiere unit is far more powerful and feature-rich than those old units.

Now that they’re launching On Demand support for retail TiVo Premiere units, Comcast is discontinuing support for the soft-TiVo units on or around August 1, 2012. So you have until then to pick up a TiVo Premiere unit if you want to continue to have TiVo in your home. Before you run out and buy one at retail – TiVo is offering you one for free! See tivo.com/bostonoffer for details. They’re offering a 320GB TiVo Premiere for free with a monthly rate discounted to $12.95 from the usual $14.99, with a one year commitment. Or product lifetime service is $499.99. This offer is only for users who still have the Comcast DVR with TiVo.

If you’d rather have the 500GB TiVo Premiere, the 1TB TiVo Premiere XL, or the 2TB, four tuner TiVo Premiere XL4 they’re offering $100 off on those. And if you want multiple units they’re offering factory refurbished units for $49.99. (Personally I’d just get the XL4 and wait for the IP STB due later this year for multi-room functionality.) Again, these deals are only for customers who currently have the old Comcast DVR with TiVo and who are looking to switch before their service is turned off on or around August 1st.

If you’re not a Comcast DVR with TiVo users, and you don’t yet have a TiVo Premiere with which to take advantage of this new support, there is a sale on the TiVo Premiere XL and TiVo Premiere Elite on – but it ends today. $50 off a factory-renewed Premiere XL or a new Premiere Elite – $149.99 and $349.99, respectively. And yes, Premiere Elite, not Premiere XL4 – they’re getting rid of the remaining pre-name-change stock, I asked. Same hardware, different badge on the front. Amazon has the 320GB Premiere for $89.99, the 500GB Premiere for $109.75, the Premiere XL for $203.24 (did they miss the memo about list dropping to $199.99?), and the Premiere XL4 for $342.10.

TiVo Premiere subscribers in additional markets across the country are expected to have access to the XFINITY On Demand library in the coming months. Visit www.tivo.com/comcast to learn more or to sign up for notifications when XFINITY On Demand becomes available on TiVo Premiere in additional areas. Boston is the second Comcast service area to receive XFINITY On Demand support, following the SF Bay Area.

Which area will be third? I think Chicago may have a shot. Why? Back in 2008 Chicago looked set to be the next market for the soft-TiVo, after Boston, but the roll out stopped before it launched there. And Chicago is one of two cities where Comcast launched tru2way support as a trial with TV manufacturers, before that effort fizzled as well. (The other city was Denver.) This means they’ve probably already done a lot of work upgrading their head ends there, and they are likely in a good position to take the upgrade for the new service. Plus Chicago is a large market, apparently 2.3 million cable households, so it would have a potential for a large return.

But that’s all speculation of course. Only Comcast knows where they’ll launch the service next.

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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  • Jackmehoff

    I just punched in my zip of my vacation home located on Cape Cod and it is available there. So it looks like it is far reaching.

  • Jackmehoff

    I just punched in my zip of my vacation home located on Cape Cod and it is available there. So it looks like it is far reaching.

  • https://twitter.com/#!/TechWzrd Sam Biller

    Megazone, what do you think this will do to retail subscriber growth for TiVo? Is support for On Demand coupled with lower prices enough for TiVo to turn the corner on retail subscriber which lost 29K in Q1? I’m speculating that the advertising coupled with the On Demand support will be enough for TiVo to gain 5,000 retail subs in Q2 which ends 7/31/2012. 

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

      I think I commented on this earlier, but I can’t recall if it was here or someone else, like IV.

      I don’t think adding VOD support, by itself, will have any real measurable impact on TiVo sales.  Yes, there are people who have not purchased TiVo because of the lack of VOD support who will now do so, but not any significant numbers.  So if nothing else changed just flipping this on in retail units wouldn’t yield much gain.

      However, enabling VOD support is just part of the equation.  It is part of the larger partnership with Comcast, which enables marketing.  If Comcast does heavy marketing in each area as they’ve started in the Bay Area then that could produce some real sales.  Not as many as if they offered TiVo directly with no need to buy one separately, but the install support, etc., is better than the current “Try your luck” model.

      I’m curious to see how much Comcast markets the TiVo offering in comparison to their own X1 offering which they’ve just started to deploy.  Their new X1 STB software actually looks fairly decent.  I don’t think it is as nice as TiVo, based on what I saw at The Cable Show, but it is a HUGE jump up from the old cable software.  So we’ll see.

      Once Comcast gets their software out into enough territories TiVo could do nationwide brand marketing, especially if the other deals- like Cox and Charter – move forward.  You don’t want to advertise VOD support until enough of the market actually has it.

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

      I think I commented on this earlier, but I can’t recall if it was here or someone else, like IV.

      I don’t think adding VOD support, by itself, will have any real measurable impact on TiVo sales.  Yes, there are people who have not purchased TiVo because of the lack of VOD support who will now do so, but not any significant numbers.  So if nothing else changed just flipping this on in retail units wouldn’t yield much gain.

      However, enabling VOD support is just part of the equation.  It is part of the larger partnership with Comcast, which enables marketing.  If Comcast does heavy marketing in each area as they’ve started in the Bay Area then that could produce some real sales.  Not as many as if they offered TiVo directly with no need to buy one separately, but the install support, etc., is better than the current “Try your luck” model.

      I’m curious to see how much Comcast markets the TiVo offering in comparison to their own X1 offering which they’ve just started to deploy.  Their new X1 STB software actually looks fairly decent.  I don’t think it is as nice as TiVo, based on what I saw at The Cable Show, but it is a HUGE jump up from the old cable software.  So we’ll see.

      Once Comcast gets their software out into enough territories TiVo could do nationwide brand marketing, especially if the other deals- like Cox and Charter – move forward.  You don’t want to advertise VOD support until enough of the market actually has it.

      • https://twitter.com/#!/TechWzrd Sam Biller

        I agree with you that VOD is just part of the equation. From a marketing perspective it appears that TiVo is bearing most of the burden of the public marketing on buses, radio, TV, subway, etc. Comcast should, as Rogers puts it, reduce the “CableCARD Friction” associated with a consumer purchasing a retail device. 

        The nationwide brand marketing is another idea. TiVo is very cautious about marketing expenditures at this point. 

        Speaking of the X1, here is a link to a Boston Globe post from today –> http://bostonglobe.com/1970/01/17/techlab/Z2moTbtWBwgU7BWAKclRGJ/story.html

  • Michael Burstin

    I’m still not sure what I want to do.  I have one of the Moto boxes with Tivo — but have not touched it in the past few months now that I have my Premier Elite.  I had been keeping it around just for potential On-Demand access but now that I can get it on the Premier, I don’t need it.  I wish that I could just drop the Comcast DVR from my package price since I still have my Tivo HD as well…  Maybe just swap out the Moto box for a standard Moto box for another room to have On-Demand there as well.

  • Michael Burstin

    I’m still not sure what I want to do.  I have one of the Moto boxes with Tivo — but have not touched it in the past few months now that I have my Premier Elite.  I had been keeping it around just for potential On-Demand access but now that I can get it on the Premier, I don’t need it.  I wish that I could just drop the Comcast DVR from my package price since I still have my Tivo HD as well…  Maybe just swap out the Moto box for a standard Moto box for another room to have On-Demand there as well.

  • Michael Burstin

    I’m still not sure what I want to do.  I have one of the Moto boxes with Tivo — but have not touched it in the past few months now that I have my Premier Elite.  I had been keeping it around just for potential On-Demand access but now that I can get it on the Premier, I don’t need it.  I wish that I could just drop the Comcast DVR from my package price since I still have my Tivo HD as well…  Maybe just swap out the Moto box for a standard Moto box for another room to have On-Demand there as well.

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

      Remember that since you have a Premiere Elite you’ll be able to use the IP STB in the other room when it drops later this year.

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

      Remember that since you have a Premiere Elite you’ll be able to use the IP STB in the other room when it drops later this year.