# Can a Lifetime TIVO Subscription be Added After the 1st Year?



## JTHOJNICKI (Nov 30, 2015)

I'm new to the world of TIVO, so I am planning to buy 1 or 2 Bolts to jump in. Can I defer purchasing the lifetime TIVO subscription until my free first-year subscription is almost up? I want to be absolutely sure that the Bolt(s) meet my needs before spending $600.

Thanks again!


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

You can mostly tell this on your Tivo.com account, and may be able to set plans for future subscriptions.


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## sluciani (Apr 21, 2003)

JTHOJNICKI said:


> I'm new to the world of TIVO, so I am planning to buy 1 or 2 Bolts to jump in. Can I defer purchasing the lifetime TIVO subscription until my free first-year subscription is almost up? I want to be absolutely sure that the Bolt(s) meet my needs before spending $600.


You'll likely love your Bolt. The question I'm asking myself is if I'll keep it for 5 years, which is the break-even on the new lifetime pricing. Knowing myself, I'll probably want to upgrade if/when a next generation box appears, 3-4 years from now. YMMV.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

sluciani said:


> You'll likely love your Bolt. The question I'm asking myself is if I'll keep it for 5 years, which is the break-even on the new lifetime pricing. Knowing myself, I'll probably want to upgrade if/when a next generation box appears, 3-4 years from now. YMMV.


I know I won't which is why I won't be getting ALL IN. Although if it were priced at $400 I might consider it. But at $600, the break even point is too far down the road.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

sluciani said:


> You'll likely love your Bolt. The question I'm asking myself is if I'll keep it for 5 years, which is the break-even on the new lifetime pricing. Knowing myself, I'll probably want to upgrade if/when a next generation box appears, 3-4 years from now. YMMV.


The question is how much of the All-In price can you recover when you upgrade, if you just rent the TiVo it would have almost no value. IE pay $600 for all in, keep the unit for three years, as the first year is free you now have $300 in rent equivalent, so your break even is now $300 net, if you can sell the Bolt (with All-in)for say $550 you will be making money. I just sold a 3 year old Roamio + for over $670 on E-Bay. I would assume the resale price of TiVos with All-in will now go up on E-Bay.


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## sluciani (Apr 21, 2003)

lessd said:


> [...] if you can sell *[a 3-year old]* Bolt (with All-in) for say $550 you will be making money[....]


Didn't realize they kept their value like that. If so, your point is well-taken.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

sluciani said:


> Didn't realize they kept their value like that. If so, your point is well-taken.


They keep their value if and only if they're lifetimed.


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## Kremlar (Jan 22, 2009)

Who knows what the state of cable card will be in 5 years. Personally, I wouldn't bet on it. Current TiVos may be doorstops.


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

unitron said:


> They keep their value if and only if they're lifetimed.


I'm glad I went lifetime on my Premiers because I sold three of them and made enough for a lifetime Roamio Pro with almost enough for the 6TB hard drive upgrade. And that included a 3 year warranty.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

gespears said:


> I'm glad I went lifetime on my Premiers because I sold three of them and made enough for a lifetime Roamio Pro with almost enough for the 6TB hard drive upgrade. And that included a 3 year warranty.


Hopefully the Roamio Pro still has a high value. I still plan on selling my Lifetime Roamio Pro with a 5TB drive soon. After I get a replacement Bolt setup. Although at this point the only reason I'm still planning on getting another replacement Bolt is because I already have the second 4TB. Otherwise with Skip mode supposedly coming I could just use one of my Roamio Basics instead of another Bolt.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Kremlar said:


> Who knows what the state of cable card will be in 5 years. Personally, I wouldn't bet on it. Current TiVos may be doorstops.


This is the biggest issue. CableCARD is in flux right now and likely to replaced by something else in the next 5 years. You might still be able to get a CableCARD or maybe TiVo will be able to adapt the Bolt to the new standard, but I wouldn't bank on it.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> This is the biggest issue. CableCARD is in flux right now and likely to replaced by something else in the next 5 years. You might still be able to get a CableCARD or maybe TiVo will be able to adapt the Bolt to the new standard, but I wouldn't bank on it.


IMHO when the end of cable cards is announced there will be at least 5 years or more when cable card will still be useable, if streaming get too popular the cable co.s will want to put their money in streaming and not care about replacing the cable card, they will just let their cable delivery run out without investing money in any new cable technology. All this is a guess on my part.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

lessd said:


> IMHO when the end of cable cards is announced there will be at least 5 years or more when cable card will still be useable, if streaming get too popular the cable co.s will want to put their money in streaming and not care about replacing the cable card, they will just let their cable delivery run out without investing money in any new cable technology. All this is a guess on my part.


That may be true, but it would sill effect the resale value.


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## mad.gunsmith (Jul 1, 2010)

lessd said:


> I just sold a 3 year old Roamio + for over $670 on E-Bay.


what upgrades did you do to get that kind of money?


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## sluciani (Apr 21, 2003)

mad.gunsmith said:


> what upgrades did you do to get that kind of money?


No upgrades needed, it looks like, since lifetime is now $600. If you add that to a new Plus MSRP of $400, $670 looks like a reasonable price to pay for a unit in good working condition.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

mad.gunsmith said:


> what upgrades did you do to get that kind of money?


Stock unit, but I had all the original unused accessories and retail box with original packing. I also had to pay shipping, PayPal, and E-Bay costs.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

JTHOJNICKI said:


> I'm new to the world of TIVO, so I am planning to buy 1 or 2 Bolts to jump in. Can I defer purchasing the lifetime TIVO subscription until my free first-year subscription is almost up? I want to be absolutely sure that the Bolt(s) meet my needs before spending $600.
> 
> Thanks again!


Can anyone answer this guy's original question? I'm curious as well. I was under the impression that All-In (lifetime) service must be purchased at the same time that a Bolt is directly purchased from TiVo, or at least when it is activated. Is that TiVo's current policy? (Although regardless of what TiVo says now, I imagine that come late 2016 when the first Bolts sold roll off their first year of included service, TiVo will probably sell All-In for them if you call and threaten to cancel service if you can't get it.)


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## sluciani (Apr 21, 2003)

Looks like you must opt for "all-in" at the time of activation. From the TiVo web site: https://www.tivo.com/buytivo/popups/popup_servicePlans.html


> Regarding all new models of the TiVo BOLT or the TiVo Roamio Pro:
> 
> For purchases on tivo.com, and unless you specify otherwise (pursuant to the next sentence), your initial service subscription will be a Year-Included Plan, which subsequently will roll over automatically into successive annual service plans at the then-published rate (currently $149.99/year, plus any applicable taxes).1 Via tivo.com or TiVo Customer Service (877-367-8486), you instead may select a monthly service plan, at the current rate of $14.99/month (plus any applicable taxes) with a one (1)-year commitment and a $75 early termination fee2.
> 
> For purchases through any other retail sales channel, your initial service subscription will be a Year-Included Plan, which subsequently will roll over automatically into successive annual service plans at the then-published rate (currently $149.99/year, plus any applicable taxes).1 *Upon activation, you will have the option of upgrading your service subscription to an All-In Plan, for a one (1)-time payment at the then-published All-In Plan upgrade rate* (which currently is $599.99, plus any applicable taxes)4.


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## ilovedvrs (Oct 21, 2004)

that can't be right!!

are you saying I can't buy lifetime after 1 year of free?

I'm going to smash my bolt with a baseball bat if that is true.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I doubt that's true. I'm sure TiVo will be willing to sell you $600 all-in at any time if you just call and ask. What incentive would they have to refuse?


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## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

aaronwt said:


> I know I won't which is why I won't be getting ALL IN. Although if it were priced at $400 I might consider it. But at $600, the break even point is too far down the road.


I just got off the phone with TiVo, I was offered a 500g Bolt for $700 ($800 for the 1TB) that includes LTS or All In. Also a Roamio Pro for $600 that also includes Lifetime service. I'm getting this for my brother in law he's finally sick of Verizon DVR's.
He's opted to go for the Roamio Pro. He's going to pick up 3 mini's someplace to go with a whole home option.
The rep also hinted of a Bolt Pro sometime soon but gave no time frame.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

NashGuy said:


> Can anyone answer this guy's original question? I'm curious as well. I was under the impression that All-In (lifetime) service must be purchased at the same time that a Bolt is directly purchased from TiVo, or at least when it is activated. Is that TiVo's current policy? (Although regardless of what TiVo says now, I imagine that come late 2016 when the first Bolts sold roll off their first year of included service, TiVo will probably sell All-In for them if you call and threaten to cancel service if you can't get it.)


It's all covered here, in TiVo's *"TiVo Service Plans and Policies: Essentials"* web document.

Specifically, focus on the "Which TiVo service plan applies to my TiVo device?" section, noting the available "Optional Plans" for the TiVo device in question, but especially the asterisked footnote:
*-Optional plans listed are available within 30 days of initial activation, or after 1 year of included TiVo Service.​How one would manage the "after 1 year of included TiVo service" and "automatic annual plan rollover" time window is the only mystery. I suspect you'd just need to contact TiVo as your 1st year of service is coming to a close and purchase All-In.

Given that there's no discount on All-In if you opt for it within the first 30 days, I don't see any value in buying All-In until that first year of service nears its conclusion.


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## mad.gunsmith (Jul 1, 2010)

lessd said:


> Stock unit, but I had all the original unused accessories and retail box with original packing. I also had to pay shipping, PayPal, and E-Bay costs.


i stopped selling o eBay because of the fees i remember selling stuff for $1 and making money on it, now is impossible


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I rarely sell anything. It's too much work and by the time you pay all the fees the profit is minimal. I usually try to give my old stuff away to family. that way it's not wasted but I don't have to deal with the hassle of selling it.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

mad.gunsmith said:


> i stopped selling o eBay because of the fees i remember selling stuff for $1 and making money on it, now is impossible


That because E-Bay started to charging you their fee on shipping cost, people that use to charge $1 for something and $15 for shipping, the E-Bay fee was only on the $1, now it on the $16. I mostly sell TiVos with a fixed price and free shipping and count on a 13% fee for both E-Bay and PayPal + $20 for shipping, sometimes my shipping is less and a few times its more. So a Roamio that sells for $675 net me ($675x.87)-$20=$567 net, and I sold it before TiVo raised the Lifetime to $600.


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