TiVo Discounts DVR Pricing

TiVo Premiere Box

Digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc. is dangling a price drop carrot in front of consumers in time for the holidays -- sort of.

For a limited time, the company announced that, starting Tuesday, it is offering promotional pricing for its TiVo Premiere and TiVo Premier XL boxes if consumers are willing to commit to a one-year contract. The TiVo Premiere box is being offered for $99.99 or $19.99 per month, for a savings of $200, the company said. The TiVo Premiere XL has also been slashed to $299.99 with a one-year commitment. Consumers who are willing to commit to a two-year contract can take advantage of a zero-down offer. The boxes typically cost customers $12.95 per month.

"TiVo delivers the best entertainment experience money can buy for your HDTV. And in keeping with the holiday spirit, we've listened to our customers and reduced the upfront cost making it even easier to give the gift of TiVo to yourself or others," said Joe Miller, senior vice president of retail sales and marketing for TiVo, in a statement. TiVo packages traditional TV, movies, web videos, music and a variety of Internet content from providers including Amazon Video On Demand, Netflix, Hulu Plus (coming soon) and YouTube.

Once the one- or two-year commitment is up, TiVo said the plans will continue to be $19.99 on a month-to-month basis. By the end of the third year, the new offerings become more expensive. Customers who opt for the free TiVo Premiere deal with a two-year commitment will pay more after the fourth year.

Both offerings replace the need for standard cable boxes. TiVo Premiere provides up to 45 hours of HD recording, as well as online and mobile scheduling. TiVo Premiere XL has the same features but offers up to 150 hours of HD recording and comes with a backlit remote control. Standard pricing is still available during the limited-time holiday promotion, TiVo said.

Miller added that, “from a corporate perspective, we believe this promotional pricing strengthens our business model by improving the lifetime value of each new subscriber through higher monthly subscription fees."