The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
TiVo drops price
: But not by enough. [via IWantMedia]
I have a tivo and i have to say, even though it is pricey, it is 100% worth it. I work long hours and can only watch TV at weird times. I would be stuck in the late night ghetto, if it were not for tivo. And I can fast forward through every commercial! Its transitional technology, of course. Eventually we will probably shift to a complete pay-per-view model. In the meantime, Tivo is a wonderful technology.
A.W.
Why do you think it’s too much? Back in 1989, VHS VCRs with HiFi capability were going for nearly $400. TiVo’s are going for well under $200, often with an additional rebate, and a $5-7 monthly subscription charge depending on what TV package you’ve got. That seems pretty cheap for a product that would appear leaps and bounds better than VCRs.
It’s still a lit bit pricey, not to mention a bit of a pain in the ass, to use one’s computer as a PVR. Even TechTV recently was encouraging a caller to just get TiVO — or go with their satellite provider’s PVR deal.
I’m thinking (?) Jeff was talking about the monthly fee for service though, not only the hardware cost, which at 13 bones a month is a bit steep, IMO. It should probably be more like $4.95 a month or $40 a year or so.
Their overhead is too high if they aren’t able to turn a profit at $5/month per subscriber. There just isn’t much there being used in bandwith with the channel listings and the stations provide the programming information, so TiVO is really just a glorified content aggregator with a snazzy GUI.
With all that said, I’m not ready to jump the TiVO ship … yet.