TiVo and Subscription Transfer

TiVo’s first HD unit, the TiVo Series 3 was steeply priced at $799. Now it is worth $ 599 on the market. Except ardent TiVo fans, most people were not interested in this kind of pricing. At $299, the TiVo HD is closer to the Earth, so to speak. It makes more sense selling and promoting a gadget at this price.

 I decided to dive into HD when TiVo made a lifetime subscription transfer offer from my existing Series 2 for $ 199. I first bought HDTV last year. I thought a lot about going for digital cable service. What made up my mind was that TiVo was about to release a software upgrade that allowed you to use external eSATA storage on the TiVo.

 I would like to share my experiences of this transfer. A very polite CSR came on line after being put on hold for a while. I was targeted by him to gently upsell a TiVo offer where both my old and new units would have lifetime. This was not a good idea. Lets list what I understood about TiVo’s subscription transfer.

 1) You are automatically allowed to keep a Series 2 subscription for 12 months with a subscription transfer.

2) It is financially sensible to accept a second subscription offer only if you envision using your old TiVo for the next 3 years

3) If you are going to be using a cable that needs a converter your Series 2 will not be useful

4) Generally after 60 days the TiVo HD will have the lifetime plan and the Series 2 will have the monthly plan.

5) The monthly plan will only be cancelled if you inform TiVo to do so.