In light of the announcement of the TiVo Premiere, we thought this would be a good time to recap the various service plans available at TiVo!
At WeaKnees, we really recommend the lifetime service option (PLS, or Product Lifetime Service) for your TiVo DVR. At $399 for your first unit (and less for additional units – see below) this pays for itself in 31 months versus the monthly plan option at $12.95.
Compared to the Annual service plan, the Product Lifetime plan pays for itself in just over three years. You just have to come up with the $399 up front. But if you’re considering Lifetime, make sure you don’t pay for any monthly service first; that money would just be wasted.
Another benefit of Lifetime Service is that, since it’s tied to that box, it’s transferable. So if you decide, down the road, to upgrade to a newer TiVo, you can sell the old one with the lifetime attached. In many cases, that’s what makes the upgrade to a new box financially viable.
Next, for existing customers with TiVo DVRs, or for customers activating more than one DVR, the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth DVR on one account qualify for discounted service – called MSD or Multi Service Discount.
So instead of the pricing as above, these second-through-sixth TiVo DVRs (on the same account, at the same address) qualify for $100 off Product Lifetime Service and other discounted options:
We make the same argument here that lifetime service is worthwhile, for the same reasons. Again, the lifetime option pays for itself in about 30 months, versus the monthly option.
So how do you activate your new TiVo DVR? Click over to TiVo! and choose the “Activate a TiVo box” link on the very bottom left of the homepage.