I’ve posted about Schedules Direct previously, they’re stepping in to supply guide data to users left in the lurch by Zap2it Labs’s closing down their free data service. Until now, one key bit of information has been missing – price. Well, the price is out – $15 for 3 months.
I’m sure a number of users (read: cheapskates) who have been enjoying the free data from Z2L will balk at paying anything, even $5/month. But Schedules Direct has to pay TMS for the data, so they’re not going to provide it free. And the price may go down, depending on subscriber levels:
Sorry… until we have some idea as to the subscriber count we need to make sure we can pay the bills. We expect pricing to drop by the end of the initial term. Our goal is $20/year.
So, basically, the more people who subscriber, the lower they can drop the per-user fee. They’re starting out with $15 for 3 months on a non-recurring basis, with the expectation of lowering the price by the end of that 3-month window as subscriber count increases. You can sign-up for email notification for the launch here.
Schedules Direct is incorporated as a non-profit group and they plan to apply for federal 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. This is a community based effort designed to fill the hole left by Z2L and to keep MythTV, GB-PVR, and other systems working. As I posted before, this is their board:
Isaac Richards, Chairman (MythTV)
Robert Eden (XMLTV)
Daniel Kristjansson (MythTV)
Kevin Odorczyk (MacProgGuide)
Chris Petersen (Mythtv)
