Cut the Cord, Pay Less for TiVo

Dave Zatz noticed a seeming stealth promotion by TiVo to appeal to cord cutters – those who abandon cable and satellite to turn to free OTA broadcasts tuned via antenna and/or over-the-top broadband content. While the normal monthly rate for TiVo is $19.99, if you buy a new TiVo Premiere and activate it by 11/15/11 using the promo code ‘Antenna’, you’ll pay only $9.99 a month. The catch is you must not use it with CableCARD. If TiVo detects the unit using a CableCARD you’ll lose the promotional rate and begin paying the full $19.99 rate.

Solid Signal, recently mentioned for listing the THR22 DirecTiVo, is running the promotion on their site. Details as provided on the site:

How to Get TiVo for Just $9.99 a Month?

To qualify for the $9.99 a month TiVo Service you just need to purchase a TiVo Premiere, and sign up for a 1-year TiVo Service 11-15-11, using the activation code: Antenna
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**Service Bundle Offer for Antenna Owners: Save 50% off TiVo service (regular price $19.99) when you purchase a TiVo Premiere box for $99.99 and sign up for a new 1-year monthly service subscription commitment to the service at $9.99 per month, plus tax (renews monthly after 1 year at the same rate). Discount on TiVo Service pricing available for antenna customers only. Use of a CableCARD™ decoder will result in your monthly service fee being raised to the standard rate of $19.99/mo plus tax. Early termination fee and terms and conditions apply. See sales associate and tivo.com for complete details. Offer valid for TiVo Service activations on TiVo Premiere boxes through 11/15/11. TiVo reserves the right to terminate this promotion at any time without notice.

What’s not clear is what happens if you use it with analog cable, or clear QAM, without using a CableCARD. The wording of the deal sounds like you need to use a CableCARD to be disqualified, but I think the spirit of the deal is clearly meant to be antenna and no cable in any form.

TiVo is one of the best DVR solutions available to cord cutters as, aside from rolling your own with a PC, there really aren’t many ATSC DVR options available. These days TiVo is really pretty much it, at least for anything that isn’t bare bones, like the Channel Master CM-7000PAL. (It is basically a rebranded version of the discontinued Dish Network DTVPal.) For the price of the Channel Master you can get a TiVo and nearly two years of service at the lower rate, and you get lot more features. And with the OTT services supported by TiVo it is great for the antenna-broadband combo cord cutters.

While the promotion is running on Solid Signal’s page, you enter the code on TiVo’s site when activating service. I suspect you can actually use the promo code with units purchased elsewhere, such as via Amazon for $81.99.

Perhaps a better choice would be BestBuy.com though, as they’re now offering a free long-range antenna with the purchase of a TiVo Premiere. Sold as a bundle, you get the TiVo and antenna for $99.99, the price of the TiVo, saving $105.99. Presuming the ‘Antenna’ promo code does work for units purchased elsewhere you could get a TiVo, antenna, and half-price service – everything a beginning cord cutter needs.

Via Zatz Not Funny.