We suspected that this was coming and now it is official. You can now purchase a Series3 TiVo through 1/31/07 and transfer your lifetime service through 3/2/07. New terms and conditions are here. Happy New Year!
Author: Jeff
Previously, we reported that TiVo was permitting owners of DIRECTV DVRs to transfer lifetime service from those units to Series3 boxes.
Today TiVo changed the rules (again), and is now prohibiting transfers from DIRECTV TiVos that have lifetime service. We have many theories as to why they did it, but suffice it to say that for now, only standalone TiVos are eligible for the transfer.
As you may know, TiVo has a great deal that allows you to purchase a new Series3 TiVo and transfer lifetime service from another TiVo to your Series3. For $199, TiVo will transfer lifetime service from any TiVo (standalone or DIRECTV DVR with TiVo) and they’ll give you a year of service on the box you’re transfering from (if it’s a standalone).
The offer technically requires you to purchase your Series3 by 12/31/06 and to call TiVo to perform the transfer before 1/31/07. However, based on a few unofficial conversations with TiVo reps, we suspect that Series3 purchases made in January WILL qualify for the service offer, provided you call TiVo to complete the transfer by 1/31/07.
For the time being, we cannot guarantee that 2007 purchases of our Series3 boxes will be eligible for the transfer, however, we will give you a no-risk way of trying. Here’s how:
If you purchase a Series3 TiVo from weaKnees in January, 2007, upon request we will provide you with your TiVo service number IN ADVANCE, so that you can transfer service. We will also put your order on a 48-HOUR hold, giving you the chance to cancel with no penalty if you are unable to transfer service. We will release your order for immediate shipping once we hear from you, or if we don’t hear from you, we’ll ship 48 hours after purchase. If you choose to cancel within that 48-hour period, your credit card will not be charged.
To request your TiVo service number, simply place your order online or by phone (888-932-5633). Then email us with the subject “Series3 TSN Request” and in the body of your email, include your order number. We will email back your TiVo service number. Then call the TiVo transfer line at (866) 424-8486 to complete the transfer.
If we hear about any official change in policy, we will post it on the Blog.
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DIRECTV is Murdoch-free!
It’s Friday afternoon before a long Christmas weekend and I’m certainly ready to go home…but there is enough time for me to report the latest and greatest DIRECTV news, courtesy of AP:
“Under a deal announced Friday, Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. will give its 16.3 percent stake in Murdoch’s company back to News Corp….In exchange, Liberty will get a controlling stake in DirecTV Group Inc….plus three regional sports networks and $550 million in cash.”
If you love TiVo (and if you don’t own any DIRECTV stock, which has done particularly well this year), then you may not be a big fan of Rupert Murdoch, the head honcho at News Corp who also happens to hold the reins at DIRECTV. Murdoch also has an interest in NDS, which is the company largely behind the DIRECTV R15 and DIRECTV HR20-700, the two DVRs that replaced the DIRECTV DVRs with TiVo.
Many people have questioned why DIRECTV migrated from the TiVo platform to the NDS DVR platform, given the relative stablity and success of the DIRECTV TiVo DVRs. One of the more plausible explanations is that Rupert wanted to funnel the DVR business to NDS.
Once the deal with Liberty Media is final and DIRECTV is free of the Murdoch/NDS influence, will DIRECTV stay with its home-grown R15 and HR20 DVR? Will TiVo have another shot? Certainly plausible. A quick look at TiVo’s website indicates that a division of Liberty media is already an equity investor in TiVo.
We have been proudly writing about the custom Seagate DB35 750GB and 500GB SATA drives that we have been using for our Series3 upgrade kit and Series3 upgraded TiVo DVRs.
Matt Haughey of PVRBlog.com, reviewed our kit and confirmed our claims, “[W]ith the 750Gb drive installed, my TiVo was no louder than the stock Series 3 drive, which is really quiet for a DVR.” Check out the full review here.