TiVo, the company behind the slow-moving PVR revolution, has debuted a new service that doesn’t require monthly fees. The company’s hoping that without the fees, more people will be inclined to buy PVRs and will decide later to upgrade. The service, officially known as TiVo Basic, allows pausing of TV shows and VCR-like scheduling of programs from the 3-day program guide, but doesn’t do the much touted “favorites” function like the full TiVo service.
TiVo Basic already has some manufacturers supporting the idea — PVR and combo DVD/PVR units are in the works from Toshiba and Sony, with more likely to follow. This is good news for consumers, but bad news for TiVo, in my opinion. Massive video storage and being able to pause TV, as well as being able to burn via computer or other device, are the services that most appeal to consumers. Until now, almost all these functions were tied to a monthly fee, but with that gone most users will get what they need for free and will have little incentive to upgrade.