# TiVo Premier Pricing announced for existing customers



## jmill (Feb 22, 2010)

In short, there are two separate upgrade paths. One for lifetime subscription customers and another for customers wanting to pay monthly. Why two different approaches? TiVo says its because each customer has different priorities.

For existing TiVo customers wanting a lifetime subscription with the new box, they must pay full price for a TiVo Premiere or TiVo Premiere XL -- $299 and $499, respectively. However, they will receive $200 off the lifetime subscription price of the box, making it $299.

For those existing subscribers who want to upgrade but pay monthly, TiVo is offering a 20% discount on the Premiere or Premiere XL hardware. That lowers the price of the base model to $260. And if monthly customers keep their existing hardware active, they can benefit from the multi-service discount.

Notably missing this time around is an option for transferring an existing lifetime subscription to a new Premiere box, as you could when the Series 3 platform was launched. TiVo says it wants to start fresh, and the advantage is that existing customers can keep their current TiVos active.

_source: http://www.betanews.com/article/TiV...existing-customers-and-its-not-bad/1267585626_


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## chrishicks (Dec 31, 2003)

Is that Lifetime price a typo or are the charging $499.00 for Lifetime now?


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

It's a typo.


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## jmX (May 7, 2004)

20% off $299 isn't $260 either.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

lol. When you fail math, you become a website reporter.  j/k


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

bkdtv said:


> It's a typo.


It doesn't appear to be. The upgrade option online shows it as $200 off for any of my upgrade offers. When you go to add a Tivo to the cart and select a plan, all the plans are priced as if this is your first TiVo.

It looks like you don't get a MSD for upgrading, unless they screwed up, but based off past promotions I wouldn't be surprised if this is correct.


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

innocentfreak said:


> It doesn't appear to be. The upgrade option online shows it as $200 off for any of my upgrade offers. When you go to add a Tivo to the cart and select a plan, all the plans are priced as if this is your first TiVo.
> 
> It looks like you don't get a MSD for upgrading, unless they screwed up, but based off past promotions I wouldn't be surprised if this is correct.


I don't think you can get 20% off the purchase price *and* 50% off lifetime. I think you have to settle for one or the other.


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

Doesn't seem like much of a great upgrade offer to me. Come on Tivo, I have a old lifetime single tuner Series 2, that I would like to retire in favor of a HiDef model.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

bkdtv said:


> I don't think you can get 20% off the purchase price *and* 50% off lifetime. I think you have to settle for one the other.


Oh I get that. For me it is more the fact the monthly and yearly are the same price as what it would be if I bought at retail. Of course there is also the fact it isn't 50% off lifetime since I still own other Tivo HDs which aren't using the upgrade offer. If you were using it and you only had one Tivo with lifetime, I would agree. Since I have three and I would be using at most 2, it should be cheaper than $199 or say it is only $100 off.

Also I figured I would get one or the other. If I bought lifetime than full price hardware, but if I bought yearly or monthly then I would get the discount off the hardware which I don't according to Tivo.com. They only seem to offer the hardware discount if you are upgrading a non-lifetime unit. Of course the catch here is if you have a 6.95 unit, you are now paying the 9.95 price to replace it which wipes out the hardware savings.


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## willv28 (Nov 18, 2009)

No upgrade offers for me. Page says I'm not eligible at this time for any upgrades.


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## oosik77 (Nov 22, 1999)

So I sprung for XL and lifetime in early January. I am only offered the 20% or $200 lifetime. Going to contact them and see if they might do something more. Bah bought at the wrong time as usual....


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## ewilts (Feb 26, 2002)

innocentfreak said:


> Oh I get that. For me it is more the fact the monthly and yearly are the same price as what it would be if I bought at retail. Of course there is also the fact it isn't 50% off lifetime since I still own other Tivo HDs which aren't using the upgrade offer. If you were using it and you only had one Tivo with lifetime, I would agree. Since I have three and I would be using at most 2, it should be cheaper than $199 or say it is only $100 off.


Because you're not trading in an existing TiVo, even an owner with a single S3 isn't getting $200 off - they're getting only $100 off what would be the regular multi-service discount.

That said, I expect you'll see a lot of S3s with lifetime pop up on ebay/craigslist soon...


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## DrewTivo (Mar 30, 2005)

jmill said:


> For existing TiVo customers wanting a lifetime subscription with the new box, they must pay full price for a TiVo Premiere or TiVo Premiere XL -- $299 and $499, respectively. However, they will receive $200 off the lifetime subscription price of the box, making it $299.


I really don't see the value proposition here. Do you get to keep lifetime also on your S3 that you're upgrading? Otherwise, you're paying another $199 [I assume, not $299] and buying a new box. That's a pretty steep charge for a mere upgrade.

I realize that if you're adding another box the calculus changes.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

DrewTivo said:


> I really don't see the value proposition here. Do you get to keep lifetime also on your S3 that you're upgrading? Otherwise, you're paying another $199 [I assume, not $299] and buying a new box. That's a pretty steep charge for a mere upgrade.
> 
> I realize that if you're adding another box the calculus changes.


Yes, you keep the lifetime on your old box (unlike the original S3 deal which was the same price, but you lost the old lifetime).


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## twassel (Feb 20, 2006)

jmX said:


> 20% off $299 isn't $260 either.


It's $239.99.


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## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

I'm not clear...I have two old S2 TiVo's that have lifetime on each. When I log into tivo.com and go to my account page, it says that I can order the TiVo Premiere for $299 plus add lifetime to that new unit for $200 (instead of $400).

In the FAQ, it says that if I do that, my existing S2 box will remain active and I can continue to use it.

What I am not clear on is, does that mean my S2 will still have LIFETIME on it (where I can then sell the unit with lifetime still attached)? Or, is TiVo basically giving me free MSD on that older unit? There's a definite advantage to the former since I would likely sell the S2 with lifetime if I upgrade. Thanks!


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

The upgrade deals offered to me were $240 for 320gb Premiere or $399 for the 1TB Premiere. That's it. No deals on lifetime service. I'm paying $6.95 monthly for my Series 2.


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## MediaLivingRoom (Dec 10, 2002)

$239.99 for the Unit + $399 Product Lifetime (Upgrade Program) = $638.99
or
$299.99 for the Unit + $299 Product Lifetime (Multi-Service Discount) = $598.99
or
$299.99 for the Unit + $199 (Lifetime w/ upgrade from Lifetime Unit offer) = $498.99


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## alarson83 (Oct 27, 2009)

Not even offered that 20&#37; off for existing subscribers. What's up with that? I've had a tivohd for <6 months, id think id be as deserving as anyone for an upgrade discount.


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## willv28 (Nov 18, 2009)

alarson83 said:


> Not even offered that 20% off for existing subscribers. What's up with that? I've had a tivohd for <6 months, id think id be as deserving as anyone for an upgrade discount.


Same here, but they're only offering to those who are "loyal".


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## wierdo (Apr 7, 2002)

Yeah, I've had my TiVo account for over 10 years now! Why do I only get a measly $200 off lifetime or 20% off the cost of the box?! (depending on which box I "upgrade")

Eye deserve bettah!


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## alarson83 (Oct 27, 2009)

Apparently you have to have had service for over a year to get the upgrade offer.


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## ewilts (Feb 26, 2002)

wierdo said:


> Yeah, I've had my TiVo account for over 10 years now! Why do I only get a measly $200 off lifetime or 20% off the cost of the box?! (depending on which box I "upgrade")


You actually only get an additional $100 off. You get $100 off for your multi-service discount.

Still, another $100 off a $(300+400) purchase is 1/7, or 14.28%. That's not all that bad. 14% for being a customer in the first place and another 14% for buying the latest and greatest.

And you can chose to sell your original S3 if you want to.


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## willv28 (Nov 18, 2009)

alarson83 said:


> Apparently you have to have had service for over a year to get the upgrade offer.


I wonder if I wait until May when I've been with them for a year I'll get the discount...


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## Gai-jin (Feb 28, 2000)

Where are you guys coming up with $299 for lifetime? I'm seeing $199 when I look at upgrading, and the offer is described as: 


> Our customer's feedback has been loud and clear. They want a low priced Product Lifetime service (PLS) on Premiere. We listened. Now existing PLS customers can get an exclusive Upgrade Program discount: 50% off a new PLS plan (a savings of $200) when upgrading to Premiere. Enjoy your new box.


If $200 = half off, then the remaining half must be $200.


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## modnar (Oct 15, 2000)

Is there any information on if this pricing is for a limited time?


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## rlcarr (Jan 18, 2003)

Gai-jin said:


> Where are you guys coming up with $299 for lifetime? I'm seeing $199 when I look at upgrading


If you already have a lifetimed or subscribed TiVo, and you bought a Premiere *without* trying to use the upgrade offer, lifetime would cost $299 because of the multi-service discount.

So the 50% off figure TiVo is bandying about is rather misleading. The upgrade offer only saves you $100, not $200.


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## gwsat (Sep 14, 2006)

I, too, wonder if the offer for Lifetime at $200 if you buy one of the Premiere boxes means that you can keep your existing Lifetime subscription on your old box. When I bought my S3 three and a half years ago and got the discounted Lifetime subscription, my S1's Lifetime was terminated after about 90 days, as I recall. I didn't care that time because I was using a cable company owned HD DVR by that time. Now, though, my S3 is my DVR and the only reason I would even consider the Premiere would be because it would give me a second HD DVR, Does anybody know the answer to this?


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## wierdo (Apr 7, 2002)

gwsat said:


> I, too, wonder if the offer for Lifetime at $200 if you buy one of the Premiere boxes means that you can keep your existing Lifetime subscription on your old box. When I bought my S3 three and a half years ago and got the discounted Lifetime subscription, my S1's Lifetime was terminated after about 90 days, as I recall. I didn't care that time because I was using a cable company owned HD DVR by that time. Now, though, my S3 is my DVR and the only reason I would even consider the Premiere would be because it would give me a second HD DVR, Does anybody know the answer to this?


It says it right there on the site. You keep the old lifetime and get new lifetime for the new box.


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## Gai-jin (Feb 28, 2000)

rlcarr said:


> If you already have a lifetimed or subscribed TiVo, and you bought a Premiere *without* trying to use the upgrade offer, lifetime would cost $299 because of the multi-service discount.
> 
> So the 50% off figure TiVo is bandying about is rather misleading. The upgrade offer only saves you $100, not $200.


Ahh. I was looking at MediaLivingRoom's examples, and wasn't sure why he didn't list the:

$299 (Hardware) + $200 (Lifetime w/ upgrade offer) = $499 total outlay


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## rlcarr (Jan 18, 2003)

gwsat said:


> I, too, wonder if the offer for Lifetime at $200 if you buy one of the Premiere boxes means that you can keep your existing Lifetime subscription on your old box.


Yes, you can. TiVo has been very explicit that this is NOT a transfer. Your existing lifetimes box stays lifetimed.


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## kongjie (Jul 16, 2003)

TiVo made it a no brainer for me to upgrade from the Series 2 to the Series 3 as someone with PLS. The price was right and HD as the can't-do-without feature sealed the deal.

Now there's no killer feature, at least for me, only a few weak ones:

More storage space
"Better" HD interface
More energy efficient

Don't see it happening in my household, not with this economy. Keeping the Series 3 and the lifetime with that is meaningless, as I'm a 1 television household.


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## gwsat (Sep 14, 2006)

rlcarr said:


> Yes, you can. TiVo has been very explicit that this is NOT a transfer. Your existing lifetimes box stays lifetimed.


Thanks. I may get on board with one of them, then. I like the idea of a a second TiVo.



kongjie said:


> TiVo made it a no brainer for me to upgrade from the Series 2 to the Series 3 as someone with PLS. The price was right and HD as the can't-do-without feature sealed the deal.
> 
> Now there's no killer feature, at least for me, only a few weak ones:
> 
> ...


The advantage of having 2 DVRs, particularly 2 TiVos, connected to one HDTV is that you have 4 tuners available. I kept my old Scientific Atlanta DVR that I rented from Cox, even after I bought my S3. I was surprised by how frequently the extra tuners came in handy and allowed me to record a show that I otherwise would have missed.


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## nandopr (Jun 6, 2003)

Currently I am paying $6.95 per month. No contract, no commitment. I only have one box, a tivo HD.

I was planning to get the new premiere XL for $399 and give my old box to a friend. 

I called Tivo to find out if my monthly payment will change or will stay the same. I was told that my monthly charge was going to be $12.95.

Will that be the case if I upgrade? Just want to check with you guys.

Thank you for your help and information.


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## kongjie (Jul 16, 2003)

gwsat said:


> The advantage of having 2 DVRs, particularly 2 TiVos, connected to one HDTV is that you have 4 tuners available.


I agree that's a great advantage. I can't however wrap my head around how you would set that up--can you briefly describe it?. And wouldn't my cable provider want to charge me then for 4 cable cards per month?


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## chrishicks (Dec 31, 2003)

Try having six dual tuner boxes connected to one TV. Now that comes in handy. I have never been pressed with any conflict unless I lose power.


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## wierdo (Apr 7, 2002)

kongjie said:


> And wouldn't my cable provider want to charge me then for 4 cable cards per month?


Two, if you're using M-Cards.

For me, that would be less than $4 a month. Even with S-Cards, I'm paying $7.96 plus tax a month for my S3 and THD boxes.

That's a lot less than the nearly $20 they are now asking for their fixed size 160GB HD-DVR. Their boxes have eSATA ports, but they still haven't enabled them.


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## dmk1974 (Mar 7, 2002)

rlcarr said:


> Yes, you can. TiVo has been very explicit that this is NOT a transfer. Your existing lifetimes box stays lifetimed.


Are you certain that the existing box would stay LIFETIMED or just ACTIVE as long as it's tied to your own account?


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## rajiv (Apr 1, 2002)

what is the pricing for a tivo premiere and lifetime service for a "grandfathered" s1 tivo owner? i have a s1 activated in 1999 and have not yet transferred the lifetime service. i understand that i could transfer it for free to a new tivo hd.

but now with the premiere, can i transfer the service from my s1 to a premiere for free? would lifetime service also remain on the s1?


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

rajiv said:


> what is the pricing for a tivo premiere and lifetime service for a "grandfathered" s1 tivo owner? i have a s1 activated in 1999 and have not yet transferred the lifetime service. i understand that i could transfer it for free to a new tivo hd.
> 
> but now with the premiere, can i transfer the service from my s1 to a premiere for free? would lifetime service also remain on the s1?


if you truly have one of those S1 then it is a transfer of lifetime that is a one time deal - so the old S1 would go unsubbed and you would have lifetime on the premiere for free. TiVo of course has the final answer so best to ask them


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

dmk1974 said:


> Are you certain that the existing box would stay LIFETIMED or just ACTIVE as long as it's tied to your own account?


it is not a transfer - lifetime stays on the old box and you get a new 2nd lifetime for a discounted rate for the premiere


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

kongjie said:


> I agree that's a great advantage. I can't however wrap my head around how you would set that up--can you briefly describe it?. And wouldn't my cable provider want to charge me then for 4 cable cards per month?


you would have 2 M-cards as best option - one for each TiVo.
then you simply hook them to inputs on the TV
say input 1 and input 2 and just switch inputs as needed. The quality of the connection to the TV depends on what inputs the TV has.


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## gamo62 (Oct 12, 2002)

I'm on a 3yr commitment that ends in Dec of this year. When I added the Premiere XL, I did not get the lifetime option. All I got was the option to change the service over to the new unit and was asked if I wanted any service on the old one? 

The only discount I saw was the $100 off. Am I missing something here? Thanks.


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## Bsteenson (Jul 30, 2000)

I've got an HD with lifetime and a DT on a three-year contract that ends in October, so I was eligible for either the $200 off lifetime or the discounted box. I decided on the full-price Premiere with the $199 lifetime, so total price is $498.99 and I keep lifetime in the existing HD. Now if someone can figure out how to drop in a 2 TB drive into this baby ...


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## rajiv (Apr 1, 2002)

ZeoTiVo said:


> if you truly have one of those S1 then it is a transfer of lifetime that is a one time deal - so the old S1 would go unsubbed and you would have lifetime on the premiere for free. TiVo of course has the final answer so best to ask them


called tivo and confirmed that my s1 is grandfathered in. so i have two choices:


purchase a premiere at retail, transfer lifetime service from s1 to premiere for free, s1 is left with no service
purchase a premiere with lifetime from tivo at the discounted rate, s1 is left with lifetime


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## gwsat (Sep 14, 2006)

rajiv said:


> called tivo and confirmed that my s1 is grandfathered in. so i have two choices:
> 
> 
> purchase a premiere at retail, transfer lifetime service from s1 to premiere for free, s1 is left with no service
> purchase a premiere with lifetime from tivo at the discounted rate, s1 is left with lifetime


That's a far more generous offer than I had when I bought my S3 three and a half years ago. Although I had Lifetime on my S1, I was not offered to opportunity to transfer LIfetime coverage from the S1 to the S3. Instead, I had to pay $200 for Lifetime on the S3 and the S1's subscription ended, I think, 90 days later. And I paid retail for the S3 because that's what everybody paid then.

Are you sure about being able to transfer Lifetime from an existing older TiVo to a Premiere? Heretofore, TiVo has never allowed the transfer of Lifetime from an older box to a new one.


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## rajiv (Apr 1, 2002)

gwsat said:


> Are you sure about being able to transfer Lifetime from an existing older TiVo to a Premiere? Heretofore, TiVo has never allowed the transfer of Lifetime from an older box to a new one.


positive. my s1 is eligible for this because it was activated in dec 1999.

see http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=290723



> 2. *Grandfather transfer*: The one-time "Grandfather transfer" (for people who purchased Product Lifetime on or before January 21, 2000 [as in, more than six years ago], and who have not already used their one-time transfer) is still allowed and will also be honored for future hardware releases from TiVo, such as the Series3. If you have any trouble when you call, please mention KDB code 09-07-04 to the agent.


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## SMWinnie (Aug 17, 2002)

MediaLivingRoom said:


> $239.99 for the Unit + $399 Product Lifetime (Upgrade Program) = $638.99
> or
> $299.00 for the Unit + $299 Product Lifetime (Multi-Service Discount) = $598.99


Yep, that's head-shaking crazy. To be fair, though:

$239.99 for the Unit + $399 Product Lifetime (Upgrade Program) = $638.99; *can* be the full-priced unit that supports MSD on other units.

or

$299.00 for the Unit + $299 Product Lifetime (Multi-Service Discount) = $598.99; *is not* a full-priced unit to supports MSD on other units.

So, the extra forty bux make sense if your new Premiere would have to be the full-priced first box in a multi-TiVo MSD household.


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

Looking at what your saying:
I have a Lifetime S3 (Main Family room)
+ S3 at $6.99 MSD (Bedroom)
+ TivoHD at $6.99 MSD (Workout room)

So If I was to flip them all I would buy one at full + lifetime to support MSD
and the other two at discount and get swap them in.

For a total price of 
$299 first box + $299 lifetime
+$239.99 second box
+$239.99 second box
- what ever I can sell them for

= 1078.97 - what ever I can sell them for (Assuming I want to)
I might keep the S3 Lifetime in the workout room and sell the TivoHD
and have two lifetimes

Correct?


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## tomm1079 (May 10, 2005)

i posted this in another thread..but saw it was relevant to here to:

I just called Tivo Customer Service to clarify this situation. They told me that if i got a Tivo Premire and i added lifetime to it and then i got rid of my Tivo Series 2 (that has lifetime) I would retain my current pricing on the rest of the units. This makes me feel alot better. Just wanted to pass it on to everyone who was unsure after reading this thread.

Current Pricing:
Tivo HD - 6.95
Tivo HD - 6.95
Tivo HD - 9.95
Tivo Series 2 (Single Tuner) - Lifetime

After Getting Premier:
Tivo HD - 6.95
Tivo HD - 6.95
Tivo HD - 9.95
Tivo Premier - Lifetime
Tivo Series 2 (sold)


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## gwsat (Sep 14, 2006)

rajiv said:


> positive. my s1 is eligible for this because it was activated in dec 1999.
> 
> see http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=290723


I now understand that the reason I didn't qualify for the Lifetime transfer of my old S1 to my new S3 was that although I bought my S1 in 2000, it was after January 21 2000.


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

SMWinnie said:


> Yep, that's head-shaking crazy. To be fair, though:
> 
> $239.99 for the Unit + $399 Product Lifetime (Upgrade Program) = $638.99; *can* be the full-priced unit that supports MSD on other units.
> 
> ...


Although that's what I believed, I'm not sure about that last part. See this post, and those following it.

Edit: I just smeeked post #50


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