# A MESSAGE FROM TIVO: Monthly Service Fees



## OzSat

Dear valued TiVo Subscriber,

Effective immediately, you will no longer see service charges on your monthly bill. For a limited time, the TiVo service is yours to enjoy free of charge. Stay tuned for more good things to come from TiVo.

Sincerely
TiVo Inc.


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## cwaring

Cue "Is this the end of Tivo in the UK" posts


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## FJSRiDER

cwaring said:


> Cue "Is this the end of Tivo in the UK" posts


Depends what we read into '_Stay tuned for more good things to come from TiVo._' I guess.

Given I've been on the monthly sub since I got it this is great news though.


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## Automan

Perhaps it is all part of the Ten year celebration of Tivo in the UK.

Or maybe they will offer users the option of moving over to the new Virgin Tivo product which of course will be of no use to us folks living in non Virgin cable/fibre areas.

Then the old service gets turned off just like the original BSB 5 Channel TV.

Automan.


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## mikerr

..and it's been sent to all TiVo boxes as that rarest of things, a system message:



:up::up::up:


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## Leif_Davidsen

I would imagine one reason might be that as they launch the new Virgin Tivo service - for which they will clearly need to run the service, they are making all the old service contracts fully paid up. There must be a very small percentage of them running - and for which Tivo had to maintain the old contract with Sky. Also with no other sources of income it was worth collecting the montly revenues. Now they will be a separate and tiny stream they would not see the financial benefit of a separate process. They may of course try to migrate payments to whatever new infrastructure they have - but I doubt they would bother. 10 years at 10 pounds per month is a fairly good take. 
This may allow them to move all contract management to a new infrastructure to prepare for the new Virgin management.
Of course it could be in preparation for the termination of our service....but I really really hope not...and can't see why they would.


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## randap

I think this is the only message (other than lineup changes) I have ever received! At least someone is there...


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## digital_S

It obviously does say "for a limited time..." so presumably this is just TiVo giving us a special offer of a few months for free, then back to a tenner a month after that.

Funny how the date says Sun 17/10 and we all get it 4 days later!

Roll on the "...more good things to come from TiVo"


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## AMc

Imagine if monthly fees had permanently been waived - there would have been a whole bunch of spares brought out of storage I'm sure!

(Pessimism - Lets hope there aren't any mistakes migrating existing subscriptions into a new payment system. I'm not sure I have my original letter showing I paid &#163;200 way back when).


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## FJSRiDER

AMc said:


> Imagine if monthly fees had permanently been waived - there would have been a whole bunch of spares brought out of storage I'm sure!


I bought my brother one as a present that he used a lot but he stuck it in storage when he went to work abroad a few years ago. He's back now and I've emailed him to see if it works if he sets it up again.....


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## katman

AMc said:


> Imagine if monthly fees had permanently been waived - there would have been a whole bunch of spares brought out of storage I'm sure!


Im pretty sure it would only be for currently monthly subbed units...... but I WILL be trying my two spare unsubbed Tivos to see what happens


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## babycakes

Are we about to be offered a free upgrade to Tivo Premiere?


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## cwaring

No. Sorry to be so dismissive, but I can't see how that would work.


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## dvdfever

katman said:


> Im pretty sure it would only be for currently monthly subbed units...... but I WILL be trying my two spare unsubbed Tivos to see what happens


I'll be interested to know what happens. I moved my original TiVo to the bedroom when I got one with a bigger hard drive (and the fact it was never quite right after a road traffic accident in 2007 when it was on my back seat along with a load of other stuff, I had to brake thanks to a dick in front of me, and it zoomed forward off the other stuff and into the back of my seat - and I was actually driving at a reasonable speed - I just hadn't banked on an emergency brake for a 15-min journey), but the original one has the same serial number as I just ported it across so I've never connected the old one to the phone line since.


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## abarthman

katman said:


> ... but I WILL be trying my two spare unsubbed Tivos to see what happens


Please let us know what happens. 

Got this message on my lifetime sub machine today, but I've also got a fully working unsubbed one in storage, which I was keeping for spares.


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## ghstone

Hmm, only just seen this one my 3 Live Lifetime Tivos; 

Would be great if it applied to unsubbed ones too, but I don't think it will - as chance would have I was setting up a spare readly for a trip away at the weekend where we must have the F1.

I dropped a new disk in and I wasn't sure if it was subbed or not, so I let it make the phone call. It came back as account closed with no guide data - this was around lunchtime...


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## Millimole

randap said:


> I think this is the only message (other than lineup changes) I have ever received! At least someone is there...


I can never remember a system message appearing before either - I do remember very occasional non-system lineup messages in the dim and distant past, but what they were escapes me.

Is it odd that the message was dated Sunday, but only received today?

I've just changed my phone line to Be-Unlimited and got involved in their incompetence around provision of fully working lines,  so it's good to know that the daily call is at least working - if calls to paid numbers aren't!


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## Automan

I doubt unsubbed units will get the offer as their servers I guess would only send the message to accounts in good status.

Later I suspect we will get a £50.00 off offer on a Virgin Tivo box follwed by the end of the old Tivo service perhaps at the end of March 2011.

_Always expect the worse and things can only get better_

Automan.


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## dvdfever

Automan said:


> I doubt unsubbed units will get the offer as their servers I guess would only send the message to accounts in good status.
> 
> Later I suspect we will get a £50.00 off offer on a Virgin Tivo box follwed by the end of the old Tivo service perhaps at the end of March 2011.
> 
> _Always expect the worse and things can only get better_
> 
> Automan.


As much as I'd like one, I love being able to rip shows from my TiVo to the PC.


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## stevencarpenter

Whats not so clear as a lifetime sub is will i now get a bill after this free period ends?

Will be interesting to see if 'lifetime' status is honoured after whatever is happening in the background occurs in the future, after the 'limited time' expires...


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## daveh

Automan said:


> I doubt unsubbed units will get the offer as their servers I guess would only send the message to accounts in good status.
> 
> Automan.


Yes, but what if you try and re-sub one of those units now?


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## simspos

Well I'm excited by this, the wording of the message is full of hope, not doom.

If I were Tivo reading some of the responses here I would think what an ungrateful lot those Brits are, you do them a favour and all they do is *****.


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## FJSRiDER

simspos said:


> Well I'm excited by this, the wording of the message is full of hope, not doom.
> 
> If I were Tivo reading some of the responses here I would think what an ungrateful lot those Brits are, you do them a favour and all they do is *****.


I'm excited too and I'm certainly not *****ing. If I were Virgin media reading this (which is far more likely) then I'd be pleased there is still a core of loyal and enthusiastic TiVo users in the UK.

One of the cheapest ways to get your product out there is by word of mouth (which is 'posting on the internet' these days) and I'd be considering how to give those who already know the product well a way into the 'new' TiVo service. A couple of hundred motivated posters telling people on other forums how good the service is? Money couldn't buy that sort of positive and direct promotion.


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## AMc

simspos said:


> If I were Tivo reading some of the responses here I would think what an ungrateful lot those Brits are, you do them a favour and all they do is *****.


The message suggests that they are moving from the current subscriber billing systems (with Sky?) in preparation for the new commercial arrangements (with Virgin?). The safest way to avoid double billing would be to stop taking payments from one and start on the new one later. Given the low value of the subs it would be cheaper to lose a bit of revenue than pollute the launch with angry existing customers.

I would imagine that Virgin will be taking care of their subscriber management and billing. If Tivo decide to move existing monthly customers to a new billing system then that could open the doors for a non-cable subs model.

All in all I'm excited as this seems to be a clear indication that SOMETHING is finally happening to relaunching Tivo in the UK.

I just hope there is a non cable product sooner rather than later!


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## FJSRiDER

AMc said:


> I just hope there is a non cable product sooner rather than later!


I completely agree, but why would Virgin take a product that (I presume) works in other markets as a analogue/digital receiver and make it unavailable as that to a large number of potential users? Makes no sense at all.

Sure, they will have advantages to offer cabled up users right away but a 'basic' TiVo service marketed at the 'right' price and capable of working with Freeview (or Freesat) and whatever broadband services they can manage on slow connections, could be quite a coup for Virgin. There are plenty of people who do not have Sky+ simply because they don't want or need Sky. If Virgin can offer them a basic TiVo service as broadband speeds improve they will have a ready customer base.


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## djqster

katman said:


> Im pretty sure it would only be for currently monthly subbed units...... but I WILL be trying my two spare unsubbed Tivos to see what happens


I tried mine yesterday and unsurprisingly it didn't give me free TiVo service 

Six months left on my Sky contract. Hopefully there'll be news of a non-cable TiVo by then. The Sky + HD box has been underwhelming to say the least...
If not, the old series 1 box could be pressed back into service.


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## Davyburns

simspos said:


> Well I'm excited by this, the wording of the message is full of hope, not doom.


Erm, do you remember the "Peace in our time" speech


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## velocitysurfer1

simspos said:


> Well I'm excited by this, the wording of the message is full of hope, not doom.
> 
> If I were Tivo reading some of the responses here I would think what an ungrateful lot those Brits are, you do them a favour and all they do is *****.


The problem lies with the ambiguity of the message, and the fact it's the first we've seen from the silent TiVo company.

Those who pay £10 per month have a undefined free period, whilst the "lifers" are in fear that either a) the service they have a contract is withdrawn or b) they will somehow have to pay a fee in future.

As for the "wait and see" message, this just adds to the confusion. Hopefully it means that existing TiVo owners get a free virgin TiVo box that doesn't need to be used with Cable....  ... I can dream !!


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## pengbo

Someone said ten years in uk.... why does that seem significant? why do I get the feeling that was the length of time that they signed on with sky here....


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## Automan

Something else Tivo could do is perphaps populate *all* the channels with EPG data rather than the same message every two hours....

Automan.


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## cwaring

This goes back to them being able to get such data though


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## Automan

Have they even tried? Perhaps they are unwilling to pay for the listings; we are paying or have paid for the Tivo service.

Most of the channels in question are Free to Air and some such as the CBS Suite they list some but not others.

Automan.


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## Pete77

Automan said:


> Have they even tried? Perhaps they are unwilling to pay for the listings; we are paying or have paid for the Tivo service.


The significant FTA channels like CBS Drama they don't have listings for are ones that are new or where something has changed since Tivo was actively being sold in the UK. In the main it is because Tribune would actually have to do some work to set up the new data flow and it is a channel that is not one that they know they can't get away without providing (eg if there is a new BBC, ITV, C4 or Five channel they know they won't get away without listing it).

When I tried before two or three years ago I proved that if one prodded various parties at Tribune and Tivo across the pond and at the channel in question with no EPG data quite hard that new listings could get added but the solo Tribune Europe person (Ken something or other) clearly didn't like it and at one stage sent a message implying that if one prodded too hard then there might end up being no Tivo UK data service at all. Later I got a most charming message from a lady at Tribune in the states thanking me for drawing this issue to their attention and data for TrueMovies and certain Zone channels recommenced not long afterwards. Going forward the big issue is clearly whether there will continue to be a relationship with Tribune for UK S1 machines or whether Virgin uses another EPG supplier or does all its own EPG sourcing.

The bottom line is that more channels from lesser known providers means more work for Tribune on a product with declining income (or now no income) hence why they have tended to ignore channels that may mean extra work for them. Where a new channel starts but its listings are provided by a supplier with whom Tribune has a relationship and most of the supply can be automated then sometimes listings do start up for even quite obscure new channels on the Tivo platform.

I called 0844 2410703 just now and it is still being answered by an IVR system that sounds just like the normal Sky customer services one but I didn't hang on to get through to someone. If someone has a desubscribed unit surely they can telephone Sky and ask about resubscribing it. If they are told fine and there is now no monthly fee then that will prove things conclusively one way or the other.

I strongly suspect that the strings are about to be cut with Sky in terms of them having access to Tivo's systems and that Virgin staff will take over the role of maintaining old S1 machines. As this may be chaotic in the short term the easiest thing is to mark down all currently subscribed machines as receiving service on a free of charge basis for the time being. I would highly doubt that all our old machines are going to be killed off when the new Virgin Tivo launches as that would clearly create some very bad PR. Much more likely is that anyone living in a Virgin cabled area who is a paying subscriber will be offered an upgrade to the new Virgin Tivo machine whilst the rest of us outside Virgin Cable land will continue to receive service as normal. Don't forget that in the USA even more arthritic 12 year old S1 Tivos with Lifetime Subs are still in use and receiving Tivo EPG service.

By the way I'm curious as to why ozsat just repeated Tivo's distinctly cryptic message in Post #1 of this thread instead of also offering some form of comment on the background to it.


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## TCM2007

Glass half full: Tivo have cancelled Sky's contract to be taker of cash for TiVo, but aren't yet ready for Virgin to pick up the reins.

Glass half empty: If no-one is paying, they can't complain if you remove the service.

I'd go half full myself.


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## Automan

TCM2007 said:


> Glass half full: Tivo have cancelled Sky's contract to be taker of cash for TiVo, but aren't yet ready for Virgin to pick up the reins.
> 
> Glass half empty: If no-one is paying, they can't complain if you remove the service.
> 
> I'd go half full myself.


Except for those who bought a Lifetime sub - We can still complain 

Plus of course the free monthly deal is only for a _limited_ period.

Automan.


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## FJSRiDER

Automan said:


> Except for those who bought a Lifetime sub - We can still complain


Whose or what lifetime? Does it say in your original contracts?

I'd expect it is with a company (even if it is/was part of Sky) that is ceasing to trade so any 'lifetime' will have just expired.....


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## Automan

FJSRiDER said:


> Whose or what lifetime? Does it say in your original contracts?
> 
> I'd expect it is with a company (even if it is/was part of Sky) that is ceasing to trade so any 'lifetime' will have just expired.....


Excert from http://www.tivo.com/abouttivo/policies/tivoserviceagreement.html



> 14. Product Lifetime Subscriptions. A "Product Lifetime Subscription" to the TiVo service covers the life of the TiVo DVR you buy  not the life of the subscriber. The Product Lifetime Subscription accompanies the TiVo DVR in case of ownership transfer. The subscription remains in effect if the TiVo DVR needs to be repaired or replaced due to a malfunction (see manufacturer or retailer warranty details) or even if you upgrade your TiVo DVR to increase storage capacity (though such upgrades, if not performed by TiVo or a TiVo-authorized third party, will void the warranty on your TiVo DVR and constitute a breach of this Agreement). Because a Product Lifetime Subscription is linked to a particular TiVo DVR, you may not transfer it to any other TiVo DVR unless all the following conditions apply: (a) the TiVo DVR is being replaced pursuant to the manufacturer's or retailer's warranty; and (b) the TiVo DVR being replaced is of the same make and model as the replacement TiVo DVR; and (c) you provide us with a proof of replacement by the manufacturer or retailer. TiVo reserves the right to charge you a fee to transfer Product Lifetime Service from a TiVo DVR being replaced to a replacement TiVo DVR. Each TiVo DVR purchased requires its own TiVo service subscription and activation. Of course, hardware products don't last forever and their lifespan will vary. TiVo makes no warranties or representations as to the expected lifetime of the TiVo DVR (aside from the manufacturer's or retailer's warranty).


Automan.


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## FJSRiDER

Automan said:


> Excert from http://www.tivo.com/abouttivo/policies/tivoserviceagreement.html


Very interesting but that appears to be American.

I wonder if it will be the same for any UK 'Lifetime' agreement taken out when it was bought? But I wonder what any adverse publicity might cost Virgin _not_ to accept your lifetime subs?


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## Pete77

FJSRiDER said:


> Very interesting but that appears to be American.
> 
> I wonder if it will be the same for any UK 'Lifetime' agreement taken out when it was bought? But I wonder what any adverse publicity might cost Virgin _not_ to accept your lifetime subs?


The Lifetime Sub contract on the UK S1 Tivos is quite clearly with Tivo and not with Sky. Sky is merely the currently contracted agency that provides customer service/technical support. As Tivo has not ceased to trade the fact that it appears to be altering its UK service delivery agency to Virgin for the UK S1 Tivo should not have any impact on the continuation of the service.

If part of the Virgin customer support staff are being trained up to support the latest Tivo hardware and have access to staff in Aviso to resolve any unresolved issues I cannot see any reason for them not to be able to also pick up supporting the old S1 units as well as the new Virgin units.

The long term plans of Virgin for selling television in the UK outside their cable area remain unclear but the way is being slowly opened up by the government and Ofcom for Virgin to be able to access any BT laid fibre (eg to the cabinet and/or using overhead telegraph poles) in areas where they don't have their own cable network. Of course at the moment BT don't have that much fibre laid beyond the exchange and most of the areas where they have laid any of it ironically tend to also have cable television. It may therefore be that Virgin will also be interested in a Freeview version of their Tivo box where live tv is delivered via Freeview but other content is selected using the Tivo interface and then downloaded more slowly in the background to the hard drive via the ADSL connection rather than being able to immediately stream live. Of course BT have already launched a similar product (BT Vision) which has not been an entirely rip roaring success but can now also offer the Sky sports channels following recent decisions by Ofcom.


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## purplesocrates

I'm glad to have found this post on the forum. I just had a two minute panic that VM had pulled the plug and I don't live in a VM area. <wipes brow>


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## Pete77

purplesocrates said:


> I'm glad to have found this post on the forum. I just had a two minute panic that VM had pulled the plug and I don't live in a VM area. <wipes brow>


Of course the System Message was only actually relevant to those still paying the monthly sub of £10 per month and amongst those of us who are still using our Tivos I imagine these are now the great minority (quite a few more of the monthly subbers having finally either given up on their Tivos due to the heartbreak of having to continue to pay month after month or alternatively having acquired a Lifetime Subbed machine now that they only cost the price of just a few months subscriptions). For the rest of us Lifetime Subbers still using our Tivos the System Message was clearly unnecessary as nothing at all had changed.

Since this message was not sent out to those with Account Closed machines I wonder if with a little more effort Tivo could not have managed to only send the message to those still paying the monthly sub who all have the same status flag in the Tivo subscriptions database. This would then have left those customers feeling more cheerful about their continued use of their Tivo without unnecessarily panicking the much greater number of Lifetime sub users who now naturally feared that something ominous might be going to happen to their service given that they were already not paying anything for it (other than what they paid several years ago).


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## baward

Automan said:


> us folks living in non Virgin cable/fibre areas.
> 
> Automan.


In case anyone from Virgin Tivo is indeed monitoring this, that's me also. Where I live, we have no chance of being cabled up so please don't take my Tivo away!! 

Ben


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## TCM2007

Pete, TiVo messages are "broadcast" to all TiVos in the guide data. Account Closed TiVos don't download guide data, therefore...

In fact most messages are pre-loaded in the database and info in the guide data sets it to display.

I don't know if that message was one of the preloaded ones - someone with TivoWeb could figure it out by nosing in MFS.


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## royfox

Not having a lifetime sub.. (i'm one of those that has paid the 10 pounds a month for the last 9 years)..

Legally I would ask the question. If your Tivo has been modified from original design, then do they need to honour the lifetime sub of the machine?

Secondary.. Do we all not agree (we have all be moaning about the lack of Tivo interest in the UK for quite some time now) that it would be worth paying a new sub (I agree, maybe reduced for or loyalty) to ensure the successful launch of Tivo in the UK again?

There is some confusion surrounding the swap over to cabled Tivo services. I suppose this all depends on if Tivo continue the services of S1 Tivo's once the swap over occurs.
But ultimately.. If I had paid 200 pounds several years ago and had enjoyed the fantastic tivo services I think I'd be a happy bunny and felt like I had value for money. Everything has a lifespan.. I really hope the S1 services are not coming to an end for those of you with lifetime subs and not in a cabled area..


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## TCM2007

If you've modified your TiVo then you're in breach of the contract so all bets are off.


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## Automan

The only thing done to my TiVo's motherboard is the dust has been blown off  even the battery is the original.

Automan.


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## ScoobyDooZ

Has anyone successfully phoned up to get one of their spare tivos working?


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## sxb

I'm another monthly subscriber (yes, I know, but when I bought it all those years ago from Comet, after explaining to them what it was, I figured it would be just another gadget with a few months of use before being forgotten!), and also a Virgin customer. 
My MO (to the bisbelief of the engineer who put it in) is having a V+ and the Tivo (using a 2nd cable box tucked away so the Virgin remote doesn't interfere with it) to give me an extra tuner for recording (its sad how many programmes clash in the EPG, even considering repeats and the progs on VOD and the +1 channels!). I also never went for a subsequent lifetime sub as I always reckoned it would break a few months later, but no, other than a hard drive failure and a couple of dodgy remotes, its been more or less perfect!).

I've been waiting for the Virgin Tivo to launch so I could consider retiring the old S1 box and save myself a tenner a month, assuming Virgin don't look stupid amounts of dosh to upgrade (I wouldn't put it past them, especially at first!). Sadly they haven't been giving out any information so far, other than 'its coming' so from my persepctive its all up in the air, so this is at least a sign of progress! My caveat though would be that god help us if anyone here ends up with Virgins Indian call centres! They'll just ask a few randon questions (including the usual, unplug it for 10 minutes, make sure the cables are plugged in, stick your finger in the air, etc) then say you need an engineer, only for it to be anonymously cancelled next day when UK support couldn't find your Virgin account number, or decide its an 'area fault' without bothering to check with you).

The billing thing may depend on who has the billing data (your account details) - if its Sky then the data protection act or something like it may stop them just transferring the info unless there was a bit about it in the original T&C's. More likely though is that Virgin just aren't ready to bill yet (or don't have the ability to bill non-cable services without some effort on their part, which may or may not be worthwhile depending on the numbers).

Assuming the future developments are with Virgin, then to everyone in a non-cable area, I really think the cable box will be the priority for launch as thats their market). There may be a non-cable box later, but they haven't really made much of an effort so far on non-cable tv (I've heard its one of their plans for expansion, but its not there yet)

For everyone else on a monthly sub, at least we get free subs until Virgins billing system catches up (or they surrender and either mat it free forever, or shut the old service down and let Tivo wriggle out of the agreement with lifetime subscribers!).


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## AENG

I think this may be the time for those of us who had the foresight (or just plain good fortune) to opt for the &#163;200 charge up front to offer a big vote of thanks :up: to the &#163;10 per month sub-payers for sustaining TiVo Inc.'s income stream these last ten years or so. It's a moot point whether the company's interest in the UK would have continued so long otherwise.


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## mcw

Pete77 said:


> Of course the System Message was only actually relevant to those still paying the monthly sub of £10 per month


I disagree -- the "Stay tuned for more good things to come from TiVo" may be relevant to all us UK TiVo users. Time will tell I guess.

Mark


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## Trinitron

AENG said:


> I think this may be the time for those of us who had the foresight (or just plain good fortune) to opt for the £200 charge up front to offer a big vote of thanks :up: to the £10 per month sub-payers for sustaining TiVo Inc.'s income stream these last ten years or so. It's a moot point whether the company's interest in the UK would have continued so long otherwise.


It is. I remember debating back in 2003 whether it was worth paying out £199 for my lifetime sub - would I still have my Tivo in two years' time? Seven happy years later, there's not the slightest doubt it was a very good decision, and not just for the financial reasons .


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## the_hut

Surely someone with an unsubbed tivo needs to phone the helpline to try and activate it and see what they say? I bet they won't take your money from you!


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## ScoobyDooZ

I tried and got a "we are busy please try later" answer message. Will try again when I'm off next.


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## baward

royfox said:


> Do we all not agree (we have all be moaning about the lack of Tivo interest in the UK for quite some time now) that it would be worth paying a new sub (I agree, maybe reduced for or loyalty) to ensure the successful launch of Tivo in the UK again?


Yes I agree, but the problem as I see it is how do you convince Joe Public that (in order to make a relaunch more viable) Tivo is as good as it is when they have never had the chance to experience it for themselves, and probably never will now? My limited knowledge of other PVR's consists of Virgin, Sky+ and things like Humaxes, none of which (I understand) are as good as even the Tivo service we're lucky enough to be with.

Ben


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## Leif_Davidsen

The problem for Tivo - and for Virgin - is that while we all have enjoyed and relied on our Tivos for many years now, the wider public will just see Tivo as one of many PVRs if a non-cable box is brought out. 
I do read the reviews of some of the other boxes as they get released - and some of the newer ones are getting to be quite close to Tivo functionality. 
Obviously the newer hardware is much smarter - but will it be enough to encourage customers - beyond those on this forum - to buy the hardware and to subscribe to a service?


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## FJSRiDER

Leif_Davidsen said:


> Obviously the newer hardware is much smarter - but will it be enough to encourage customers - beyond those on this forum - to buy the hardware and to subscribe to a service?


Plenty of people pay quite a lot every month for Sky+ so, as long as it is priced sensibly, I don't see why not.


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## Pete77

FJSRiDER said:


> Plenty of people pay quite a lot every month for Sky+ so, as long as it is priced sensibly, I don't see why not.


Sky+ includes a fee to watch football, test cricket, premier rugby, premier tennis etc and in HD but a Tivo subscription alone does not.

Therefore the only way to sell Tivo is to bundle it as part of an improved viewing package along with the programs people want and broadband as Virgin is doing in its UK Tivo relaunch.


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## cwaring

Leif_Davidsen said:


> The problem for Tivo - and for Virgin - is that while we all have enjoyed and relied on our Tivos for many years now, the wider public will just see Tivo as one of many PVRs if a non-cable box is brought out.
> I do read the reviews of some of the other boxes as they get released - and some of the newer ones are getting to be quite close to Tivo functionality.
> Obviously the newer hardware is much smarter - but will it be enough to encourage customers - beyond those on this forum - to buy the hardware and to subscribe to a service?


I did mention to VM at the meeting last month that they *absolutely must* produce a 'demo dvd' and get one delivered to every single household in the UK. Of course they also need one in their retail outlets too; but I'm sure they'll do that.



Pete77 said:


> Sky+ includes a fee to watch football, test cricket, premier rugby, premier tennis etc and in HD but a Tivo subscription alone does not.


Not really. You can easily have all that _without_ a Sky+. It was only (relatively) recently that Sky dropped their £10 pm 'recording facility' charge and you can still get a basic, non-recording Sky box.


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## Pete77

cwaring said:


> It was only (relatively) recently that Sky dropped their £10 pm 'recording facility' charge and you can still get a basic, non-recording Sky box.


When and where and why did they stop charging the £10 per month for the recording facility? So far as I am aware if you don't subscribe to Sky then you still have to pay a £10 per month recording charge to record on a Sky+ or Sky HD box.

Its true They don't charge people who pay for channel packages extra to record but that is a longstanding situation that happened two or three years ago. They have also been repeatedly raising the minimum channel package cost.

If you could run a Sky HD box without paying Sky a subscription and still also record Fiver, Five USA and Sky Three too (with a suitable FTV viewing card) then I would certainly replace my standard Sky Freesat box with a Sky HD one like a shot.


----------



## OzSat

The £10 charge for Sky+ facilities is still there - but has a credit back once you reach a certain subscription level - unless it has changed again recently.


----------



## Pete77

ozsat said:


> The £10 charge for Sky+ facilities is still there - but has a credit back once you reach a certain subscription level - unless it has changed again recently.


Correct and the minimum channel package cost is now £19 per month in order to avoid the £10 per month recording charge.

Sky then further mislead customers by suggesting this £19 per month also includes free internet and phone calls for all customers (they neglect to mention that it does not cover phone line rental for anyone) but fail to mention that is only on the 1,000 or so exchanges where they have their own broadband equipment and that on the other 4,500 UK phone exchanges broadband will cost you a further £17 per month. If I lived on a Sky broadband enabled exchange then I might well be one of their customers as the whole price proposition is quite different.

On a non LLU exchange becoming a Sky subscriber looks very expensive indeed. Non LLU exchange areas tend to be very similar areas in which Virgin Cable is also not available so we lose all ways round.


----------



## deshepherd

cwaring said:


> I did mention to VM at the meeting last month that they *absolutely must* produce a 'demo dvd' and get one delivered to every single household in the UK. Of course they also need one in their retail outlets too; but I'm sure they'll do that.


Of course, one advantage they'll have is that they'll be able to plaster adverts over their normal GUI + can play a video demo in "advert" window that takes up a quarter screen while you navigate through all the TV-on-demand menus etc. I remember thinking that TiVo didn't have much of a chance vs Sky+ when you compared the "pause live TV" TiVo magazine ads with the rolling Sky+demo's on Sky when channels had no scheduled progs.

VM could even dedicate an entire channel to a rolling TiVo demo and send zillions of flyers to all their customers telling themto go and watch it.


----------



## TCM2007

cwaring said:


> you can still get a basic, non-recording Sky box.


Not sure you can; the default install is Sky+


----------



## cwaring

Okay. Well, I obviously know more about Cable than I do about Sky 

I checked here but it's obviously not the right site  I didn't try the click-through before but it doesn't even work 

Sorry


----------



## Pete77

TCM2007 said:


> Not sure you can; the default install is Sky+


If you are a Freesat From Sky customer who does not want to pay Sky a monthly subscription you can still have a basic Sky box and dish that just lets you view channels installed.

The only problem is that this is all that Sky is willing to let you have if you won't pay to subscribe and they don't have a hardware option that will let you record anything from a Sky box. Also the price has now gone up from £75 for the now abolished Sky Pay Once Watch Forever to £175 for www.freesatfromsky.co.uk Previously www.freesatfromsky.co.uk cost £150

Obviously if you were going to spend £175 you would be far better advised to instead install a www.freesat.co.uk PVR that will let you record programs as well, especially if you already have an existing redundant Sky dish that you can connect it to.


----------



## Pete77

cwaring said:


> I checked here but it's obviously not the right site  I didn't try the click-through before but it doesn't even work
> 
> Sorry


But you seemed to miss the critical phrase on the top left of the site saying *"When you join Sky TV for JUST £16.50 a month"*, except as you now observe the site no longer works and that £16.50 has also now become £19.

www.getsky.co.uk is not an official Sky site but is registered to:-



> *Registrant:
> Newwave Security
> 
> Trading as:
> Mr Malcolm Small T/A Newwave Security*
> 
> Registrant type:
> UK Sole Trader
> 
> Registrant's address:
> 14 Lagos Close
> East Hulme
> Manchester
> Greater Manchester
> M14 4GW
> United Kingdom
> 
> Registrar:
> Mr C Holland t/a [email protected] [Tag = CHC]
> URL: http://www.Registrars.co.uk
> 
> Relevant dates:
> Registered on: 01-Feb-2007
> Renewal date: 01-Feb-2011
> Last updated: 26-Jun-2010


They are just a Sky agent trying to get the commission from Sky for signing you up for a new 12 month minimum subscription contract with Sky.


----------



## cwaring

Pete77 said:


> They are just a Sky agent trying to get the commission from Sky for signing you up for a new 12 month minimum subscription contract with Sky.


No! Really?! Well done on stating the obvious; which I realised as soon as the links didn't work right


----------



## Pete77

cwaring said:


> No! Really?! Well done on stating the obvious; which I realised as soon as the links didn't work right


Strangely it didn't seem at all obvious to you when you told us that Sky had dropped their £10 per month "recording facility" charge, when as far as I can see that charge is still very much in place for those who don't pay for Sky subscription channels.


----------



## mikerr

Getting back on topic 

It would have been better to mention the VirginMedia tie-up in this message - assuming the message isn't one of the standard ones already in MFS - especially as this is the first time most have received anything other than "lineup change" in TiVo Messages centre.

I've had quite a few calls and emails from subscribers jumpy about a possible turn off of service following this message - mostly they were unaware of the coming VirginMedia TiVo too....


----------



## Pete77

mikerr said:


> I've had quite a few calls and emails from subscribers jumpy about a possible turn off of service following this message - mostly they were unaware of the coming VirginMedia TiVo too....


It seems a great pity that there was not a way to only send a message to those still paying a £10 monthly sub, who would clearly have cheerfully received this message.

However as this probably wasn't technically possible then would it really have been so costly to have Sky or Virgin send out a one off letter to all the £10 monthly subscribers fully explaining the situation?

The Lifetimers would have received nothing as their situation was not changing and so would therefore have had no cause for concern.


----------



## TCM2007

And Virgin should be worried about the state of concern of the Lifetimers because...?

Virgin couldn't have sent a letter anyway, they are not Virgin customers and the Data Protection Act would prevent.


----------



## steford

Let's not get too negative. Those paying &#163;10 a month get at least a few months break. Those of us with lifetime subs are unaffected. If Tivo want to pull the plug on the UK guide data service they can (and could have) at any time. So it's as it was except some people will get a well deserved break from their monthly fees.


----------



## Automan

Perhaps they should have posted two messages...

One for lifetime subs and of course the other for those paying monthly.

Automan.


----------



## Pete77

TCM2007 said:


> And Virgin should be worried about the state of concern of the Lifetimers because...?


Because they are now the UK service agent for Tivos and Tivo will presumably be requiring them to support the old S1 Tivo customers (including subscription collection) as part of their contractual arrangements with Virgin for supplying their service in the UK.



> Virgin couldn't have sent a letter anyway, they are not Virgin customers and the Data Protection Act would prevent.


Utter stuff and nonsense. I am a customer of Tivo and Tivo have given Sky access to my customer record to let Sky support me in line with their contract with Tivo. As and when Tivo alters their support contact to Virgin then Virgin will given be contractual access to my customer data in order to support me. As I have previously agreed for Tivo and their currently contracted customer service agents to have access to my customer data to support me this will not offend the provisons of the Data Protection Act.


----------



## cwaring

Pete77 said:


> Strangely it didn't seem at all obvious to you when you told us that Sky had dropped their £10 per month "recording facility" charge...


That was from memory from a previous post on DS or something.

Never said I was perfect 



> ..when as far as I can see that charge is still very much in place for those who don't pay for Sky subscription channels.


So I was right. For Sky subscribers, there is now no _extra_ charge for the HD channels.

Please stop trying to confuse me


----------



## TCM2007

Pete77 said:


> Utter stuff and nonsense. I am a customer of Tivo and Tivo have given Sky access to my customer record to let Sky support me in line with their contract with Tivo. As and when Tivo alters their support contact to Virgin then Virgin will given be contractual access to my customer data in order to support me.


The tense is important in that sentence.

If and when Virgin do take over as service agent then of course they can contact you.

But they haven't, so they can't.

You were talking about something which happened last week.

There may two more practical reasons: 1) cost and 2) the state of the address database. Even for monthly payers there is no need to keep Tivo appraised when you move house. In 10 years, their mailing list will be in a sorry state.


----------



## TCM2007

Pete77 said:


> Because they are now the UK service agent for Tivos and Tivo will presumably be requiring them to support the old S1 Tivo customers (including subscription collection) as part of their contractual arrangements with Virgin for supplying their service in the UK.


If you ring customer support you speak to Virgin now then?


----------



## Automan

My Tivo got the same Service message from Tivo.

Is this because I just fitted a new drive or is everyone getting another one?

Message had the same date BTW.

Automan.


----------



## Pete77

Automan said:


> My Tivo got the same Service message from Tivo.
> 
> Is this because I just fitted a new drive or is everyone getting another one?
> 
> Message had the same date BTW.
> 
> Automan.


I imagine the message is broadcast for a set period to any Tivo which does not have a record of already having received it. As you put in a new drive the Tivo now thinks it has never had the message as there is not record on the Tivo of the previous message being received.


----------



## OzSat

cwaring said:


> So I was right. For Sky subscribers, there is now no _extra_ charge for the HD channels.


Apart from BBC, ITV HD service - Sky charge you £10 to have the HD versions of the channels you already pay for as a part of your normal subscription.


----------



## cwaring

ozsat said:


> Apart from BBC, ITV HD service..


Well yes. I assumed that was a given 



> Sky charge you £10 to have the HD versions of the channels you already pay for as a part of your normal subscription.


Something VM don't do  (apart from the Sky Movie channels, of course.)


----------



## mikerr

The message is in the guide data for all users.
If that hard drive has only just downloaded that portion of guide data, 
it will will then display the message (once).


----------



## Ovit-UK

Its great just to see something happening as its been very quiet.


As a Lifetime Sub holder the message is of little benifit but pleased for anyone who has carried on with the monthly subs - good to see them get a little free time.


As a Virgin customer I honestly expected to hear something about the new setup by now.



Ovit.


----------



## ghstone

Just phoned the number - 0844 2410703 - and spoke tio someone in Scotland. Explained I had a couple of lifetime units and one unsubbed one, and asked what would happen if I now subscribed it , or if I even could.

The answer was a little vague - understandably I suppose - he said they don't have much contact with TIVO in US anymore and that TIVOs are no longer supported in the UK, I didn't press him for what he meant by this. I asked if could subscribe my 'spare' TIVO and offered to give the serial nuimber and my details but he wasn't sure If I could still do this. 

the guy was very polite and apologetic, but I got the feeling he was treading on egshells - very hesitant as though he had been told what to say in such a situation and wasn't too happy about it.

So, I guess something is happening as we all suspect, and Mr Waring seems to kbnow more than most ! My guess is that the contract with SKY is in some sort of transition period, and that unless pushed they are not going to mention the V word, I'm guessing that there is probably somebody at Virgin who could help, but as yet they have no way of publishing a contact point - If you're reading this then this Forum might be a good place to start &#37;^)

Graham


----------



## SPR

I have just made sure that CS have my current address just in case there's a mail shot that I would like to be on.

Didn't bother with the last 3 house moves I made since the way I watch TV was changed forever 

Couldn't believe it when the phone was answered within 3 minutes!

As in the previous post; very helpful, & polite.
Unlike the last time I had to phone CS, the Sky employee actually knew what TiVo was!


----------



## Pete77

ghstone said:


> Just phoned the number - 0844 2410703 - and spoke to someone in Scotland. Explained I had a couple of lifetime units and one unsubbed one, and asked what would happen if I now subscribed it , or if I even could.
> 
> The answer was a little vague - understandably I suppose - he said they don't have much contact with TIVO in US anymore and that TIVOs are no longer supported in the UK, I didn't press him for what he meant by this. I asked if could subscribe my 'spare' TIVO and offered to give the serial nuimber and my details but he wasn't sure If I could still do this.
> 
> the guy was very polite and apologetic, but I got the feeling he was treading on egshells - very hesitant as though he had been told what to say in such a situation and wasn't too happy about it.


I suspect he was just an ordinary Sky customer service adviser not properly trained up on Tivos. They do still have a couple of staff left who have Tivos themselves and know everything about them and if you called back a few times or asked for a call back from a supervisor then you might be more likely to get a definitive answer.

I suppose that if subscriptions have been stopped because Tivo are transferring access to their subscription systems to Virgin and Sky staff no longer have access then perhaps Sky customer service really can't add a new monthly subscriber. Although I don't really see why Sky staff can't have access to Tivo's front end until the last day of support by them and then Virgin takeover the next day. I can see why they might not want to charge immediately once Virgin have taken over because they are perhaps concerned that they may not have launched the Virgin Tivo of have a fully formed Virgin Tivo customer service team by that probably already set handover date for responsibility for the UK Tivo S1 models.

The important point is that it is not really in the Tivo dictionary to withdraw support for an older Tivo unit as they have never done it so far on even the very earliest S1 Tivos in the USA dating from 1998.


----------



## TCM2007

I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding of how this is going to work. The relationship between TiVo and Virgin is not the same as between Tivo and Thmson.

Virgin have licensed TiVo software as middleware for their STBs. It's not at all clear the the guide data on Virgin TiVos will come from TiVo - in fact I think that's unlikely. It will presumably be the same data as Virgin boxes currently use, reformatted to be TiVo compatible.


----------



## cwaring

I bloody hope not. Tivo's EPG data is far superior to anything VM have ever supplied; and even _that_ was a thid-party and not VM themselves!

I couldn't tell from the short video demo I saw at VMHQ back in September.


----------



## Pete77

TCM2007 said:


> Virgin have licensed TiVo software as middleware for their STBs.


So what. That still doesn't stop Tivo asking Virgin to support all existing Tivo S1 customers with the expected pay back that most Tivo S1 Virgin cable customers will upgrade to the new service and provide fresh revenue.



> It's not at all clear the the guide data on Virgin TiVos will come from TiVo - in fact I think that's unlikely. It will presumably be the same data as Virgin boxes currently use, reformatted to be TiVo compatible.


So the EPG for the S1 Tivos continues to be sourced from Tribune while the one for the new machines comes from Virgin. Again it still doesn't stop Virgin from supporting all these customers since the Tivo interfaces are not that dissimilar between an S1 and an S3 model.

And why should Techradaror or T3 have privileged access about what is going to happen compared to the rest of us?

Lastly if there isn't a 21 day EPG with enhanced MetaData to a decent standard then in my view it won't be Tivo.


----------



## Milhouse

I'd have thought the success and apparent superiority of the TiVo service is entirely dependent upon the quality of the EPG - if TiVo allow third parties (even VM) to undermine their service by supplying sub-standard EPG data then TiVo deserve to fail as they have lost control of their entire proposition.


----------



## Richard42

It's ten years since TiVo started here - perhaps the contract with sky has just run out, and one side or the other ( or both ) don't want to renew it, so someone somewhere is in discussions with someone else about what to do ( is that suitably vague  ? ).


----------



## dmd

I have had a busy few days and only just noticed the message on my TiVo.

My first reaction was optimism - perhaps at long last there will be a new TiVo for us. Then when I read this forum I had a feeling of dread at the mention of the V word. I really hope that any future TiVo offering is in no way connected with Virgin Media.

I am a long way from any Virgin cables so no chance of the standard cable services, but I am a customer at a house that I rent out to sharing tenants. I chose Virgin there because it is the only ISP that can supply a broadband only service. However in three years the price has gone up and up and up (more than doubled) to the point where I could get a broadband connection AND phone line from a quality ISP for less. I am constantly bombarded with sales calls trying to sell me TV and phone services, and I have told them many times in no uncertain terms that I will never want to install these services at this property. They also call me asking for other people, so I have no idea what state their customer database is in.

I am one of the fortunate subscribers who opted for a lifetime subscription, and have had my money's worth many times over. My TiVo is in use daily for all our viewing, recording from a freeview box. I have the original 10Mb network card and a few software mods. I am on my third disk and second peanut, although the first peanut still works.

Long live TiVo!


----------



## TCM2007

Have Virgin or TiVo made any public comments at all about the legacy TiVo installed base? 

I've got no inside track on what they or TiVo plan to do - I suspect it's so far down their respective agendas that they may not have given it much thought.

I notice that Virgin have had to abandon their plan to retrofit TiVo software on all existing PVR boxes, which must be a pain for them as they will have to run two systems alongside each other. Perhaps the implications of that explain why it's all gone a bit quiet.


----------



## TCM2007

dmd said:


> I really hope that any future TiVo offering is in no way connected with Virgin Media.
> !


Sorry, but Virgin have agreed an exclusive deal in the UK - future devices with TiVo software will all be Virgin.


----------



## Furball

I thought we had a member kicking about here who claimed to be from VM ? are they still kicking about, may be they "might" have more info 

Must admit since TiVo said they were going with VM I've been holding out on getting a V+ box in favour for the ViVo box 

Fur


----------



## Nero2

.........


----------



## cwaring

When the subject has come up in the past, the standard response was that Tivo _was_ the EPG data. It's the meta-data in the EPG that makes things like Season Pass and Wishlists work, isn't it?

Therefore I cannot see how VM _won't_ be using Tribune's EPG data.


----------



## TCM2007

The data will need to be encoded in TiVo's format, but there's nothing saying it has to be created by Tribune. Virgin presumably have their own data source at the moment (which might well be Tribune of course).


----------



## cwaring

TCM2007 said:


> ... (which might well be Tribune of course).


Well it isn't


----------



## Tony Hoyle

Virgin's is only 7 days though.. unless they can get more. One of the key advantages of Tivo to me was the long EPG so if you saw something advertised as 'coming soon' you could get the SP in early rather than having to wait until it was nearly on.


----------



## Pete77

TCM2007 said:


> The data will need to be encoded in TiVo's format, but there's nothing saying it has to be created by Tribune. Virgin presumably have their own data source at the moment (which might well be Tribune of course).


Surely as Virgin's current data source is only 7 days long part of the deal with Tivo might have been to outsource the task to Tribune so that a 21 day long service could be provided and therefore exceed the length of future guide data available on Sky (only 7 days). A Tivo with only a 7 day future EPG is not a fully functional Tivo in my humble opinion.


----------



## Pete77

cwaring said:


> Well it isn't





cwaring said:


> When the subject has come up in the past, the standard response was that Tivo _was_ the EPG data. It's the meta-data in the EPG that makes things like Season Pass and Wishlists work, isn't it?
> 
> Therefore I cannot see how VM _won't_ be using Tribune's EPG data.


Oddly you now seem to have made two posts in the last 24 hour on the likely supplier of EPG data for the Virgin Media Tivo that seem to completely contradict one another.

Would you perhaps care to explain this?


----------



## davisa

Although Virgin have an exclusive for TiVo in the UK (so we're told) one can only hope that they'll release a freeview box for those of us not in a cable area. Seems to me to be a sensible course of action to expand the user base.


----------



## cwaring

Pete77 said:


> Oddly you now seem to have made two posts in the last 24 hour on the likely supplier of EPG data for the Virgin Media Tivo that seem to completely contradict one another.


No I haven't. Try re-reading the relevant posts again.



> Would you perhaps care to explain this?


It is quite easily explained but I'm sure you will figure it out for yourself eventually.


----------



## Pete77

cwaring said:


> It is quite easily explained but I'm sure you will figure it out for yourself eventually.


I figured it out.

Tribune isn't one of Virgin's data sources for its current EPG for V+ and other Virgin set top boxes at the moment but it will be for all the Tivo based Virgin models once the Virgin Tivo service is launched.:up:

If this is actually the case that also certainly sounds like good news for all us UK Tivo S1 owners since clearly there ought to be enough profit in a deal between Virgin, Tivo and Tribune to cover any minor additional ongoing costs of still providing a variant of the Tribune Tivo UK EPG that is also still compatible with the S1 series units.


----------



## cwaring

Pete77 said:


> I figured it out.
> 
> Tribune isn't one of Virgin's data sources for its current EPG for V+ and other Virgin set top boxes at the moment but it will be for all the Tivo based Virgin models once the Virgin Tivo service is launched.:up:


Well done. Have a cookie; or a pint 

I believe that VM's current EPG data is supplied by Red Bee Broadcasting Data Services. However, whilst searching I found this company who also claim to provide the same service.

See. I do, quite often actually, know what I'm writing about


----------



## TCM2007

davisa said:


> Although Virgin have an exclusive for TiVo in the UK (so we're told) one can only hope that they'll release a freeview box for those of us not in a cable area. Seems to me to be a sensible course of action to expand the user base.


I think that's unlikely. While Virgin may well introduce IPTV access to their service in the future, that would not need TiVo software. And there's no benefit to Virgin in selling a TiVo powered Freeview box, the £10 just to record model being a clear failure.


----------



## AMc

TCM2007 said:


> I think that's unlikely. While Virgin may well introduce IPTV access to their service in the future, that would not need TiVo software. And there's no benefit to Virgin in selling a TiVo powered Freeview box, the £10 just to record model being a clear failure.


A Freeview Tivo could be bundled with Virgin Media's ADSL and calls package (which I'm on). 
Virgin briefly offered a branded Freeview box to ADSL subscribers so they could legitimately offer a broadband, calls and TV package outside their area - more a point scoring exercise with BT and Sky than anything else I imagine.
I'm not convinced it's likely but there is a glimmer of hope for a non-cable Tivo.


----------



## cwaring

AMc said:


> Virgin briefly offered a branded Freeview box to ADSL subscribers so they could legitimately offer a broadband, calls and TV package outside their area.


Indeed they did; and a really nice little unit it was too. I assume a S1 Tivo could control it but cannot confirm.


----------



## pilotkato

I just tried calling the Tivo helpline on 08702 41 84 86 but the line has been disconnected. Has anyone been able to speak to them on another number to get any further info on what's happening?


----------



## mikerr

The tivo customer services number is 0844 241 0703


----------



## pilotkato

Thanks for that. It's been a long time since I've needed to call them. The person that I spoke to said she didn't know anything more about what's happening.


----------



## Olly

I've not received this message on either of my Tivos. One has a lifetime sub and the other a monthly one. Both have received recent channel change messages.


----------



## mikerr

I've heard the following from a few customers now -apparently Sky's login to the tivo system isn't even asking for credit card details when they set up new monthly subbed accounts at the moment, and all goes through fine - the sky call centre guys haven't been briefed, and seem surprised.

So it might be worth ringing 0844 241 0703 and reactivating any spare tivos you have in your lofts... :up:


----------



## djb2002

mikerr said:


> I've heard the following from a few customers now -apparently Sky's login to the tivo system isn't even asking for credit card details when they set up new monthly subbed accounts at the moment, and all goes through fine - the sky call centre guys haven't been briefed, and seem surprised.
> 
> So it might be worth ringing 0844 241 0703 and reactivating any spare tivos you have in your lofts... :up:


Can anyone confirm that they have done this ?

Thanks
Daniel


----------



## worm

Just done this.

Mrs Worm phoned up and got our spare TiVo registered. They took bank details but said that they weren't charging at the minute - with no commitment to what will be happening in the future.

So it does seem to work 

Of course, the test will be when we plug it in and it actually downloads data


----------



## djb2002

worm said:


> Just done this.
> 
> Mrs Worm phoned up and got our spare TiVo registered. They took bank details but said that they weren't charging at the minute - with no commitment to what will be happening in the future.
> 
> So it does seem to work
> 
> Of course, the test will be when we plug it in and it actually downloads data


Have yours actually started to download the data, and the status changed from 'Closed, Call' ?? - I've been struggling for weeks now to get two properly re-activated. See thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=461248

Daniel


----------



## worm

No luck yet, but it's only been 24hrs, and it can take a while.

If it's not done tomorrow, then we may have an issue.


----------



## djb2002

worm said:


> No luck yet, but it's only been 24hrs, and it can take a while.
> 
> If it's not done tomorrow, then we may have an issue.


It is only supposed to take a couple of hours, but they do quote up to 48 hours.

'Sky' have given up on my issues, saying there is nothing else they can do - Apparently their contact at TiVo in the US doesn't work there anymore, and they are unable to reach anyone else who can help.

I've tried to contact TiVo US directly, but not having much luck.

Daniel


----------



## djqster

I reactivated mine yesterday teatime and it's still showing account closed


----------



## djb2002

At least we now know it is a general problem - not just me. Helps me feel a bit better, and hopefully the more people that report it, the better the chance of getting it resolved.

Thanks
Daniel


----------



## Pete77

djb2002 said:


> I've tried to contact TiVo US directly, but not having much luck.l


From my post on 1st July this year at http://tcf2.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=440478



Code:


Tom Rogers CEO/President [email][email protected][/email]
Jim Barton Co-Founder [email][email protected][/email]
Joe Miller SVP Consumer Sales/Distribution [email][email protected][/email]
Mark Roberts SVP Consumer Products/Operations [email][email protected][/email]
Anna Brunelle VP Controller & Treasurer [email][email protected][/email]

See also http://pr.tivo.com/easyir/tivo/files/03.01TiVoCompanyBackgrounder.pdf



> *Key Members of the Executive Team:*
> 
> Tom Rogers, President and CEO
> Jim Barton TiVo Co-Founder, Senior Vice President and CTO
> Anna Brunelle Chief Financial Officer
> Jeff Klugman Senior Vice President and General Manager, Service Provider Division
> Mark Roberts Senior Vice President, Consumer Products and Operations


Mark Roberts looks the most obvious person to email but you might also want to send a Private Message to Tivocommunity forum member TivoPony who works for Tivo Inc and was closely acquainted with their previous S1 UK product offering. In fact TivoPony eventually even managed to find the right technical people to get Suggestions working for us again.:up:


----------



## djb2002

Thanks Pete - I'll give that a try.

Looks like TiVoPony is away until 5th Jan, but I'll contact him if I don't get anywhere before then.

Thanks
Daniel


----------



## djqster

Well, after a call to Sky I'm now on status 4 
But at least I have guide data for a while...


----------



## djb2002

djqster said:


> Well, after a call to Sky I'm now on status 4
> But at least I have guide data for a while...


Did they make you aware that this is a general system-wide issue ?

Thanks
Daniel


----------



## djqster

djb2002 said:


> Did they make you aware that this is a general system-wide issue ?


The guy on the phone just said he would send a reset, hence the status 4. To which I replied 'Oh bugger' because at that exact moment my Tivo finished booting into its first ever green screen of death.

That was pretty much the end of the call after that.

I guess I'll ring them again when the status goes back to closed...

I reckon this is just TiVo being upset at my foolish affair with a skanky Sky+ HD box.


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## worm

No good news here.

Didn't work after our first call, so Mrs Worm called back and spent a fair while talking to a very, very helpful guy called Billy (who has his own TiVo), but with no luck. He basically said that the system wasn't taking any new accounts and he tried everything he could, but there was little he could do.


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