TiVo Gets New Pricing, No Lifetime Plan

TiVo announced Wednesday that it would begin offering TiVo boxes as part of its subscription price in return for a long-term commitment from the customer. Depending on the term of the contract, the monthly fee would range from $16.95 to $19.95 USD per month.

With each plan, an 80-hour TiVo box would be shipped to the subscriber at no cost. The company had previously offered its base 40-hour model in tests of the pricing plans, which received an overwhelmingly positive response. Its service-only plan would still remain, which currently retails for $12.95 USD per month.

"After extensive testing and evaluation of various pricing and packaging approaches, we will launch a subscription option that combines the sale of the TiVo service together with the TiVo box," TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said. "This is great for TiVo subscribers who will now have the ability to get TiVo service with no upfront hardware costs."

The company said it also plans to offer its service-only customers an option to prepay for one, two or three years of service. TiVo will begin phasing out the lifetime service plan option beginning next week.

News of the new pricing plan structure came on the same day as better financial news for the company. For the quarter ending January 31, TiVo finished with 4.4 million subscribers, which showed 45 percent growth from last year.

Revenues also rose 48 percent, and the company reported its first year ever of positive cash flow from operations.

"One of the key ways to drive our subscription base is to continue to differentiate TiVo's service features from those of generic DVRs, which is an important driving force for us in 2006," Rogers said.

TiVo on Wednesday additionally announced a distribution deal with electronics retailer RadioShack, who had previously sold boxes for its competitor, ReplayTV.