1 Year without cable TV

It has been 1 year now since our family decided to ditch DirecTV.  We replaced our set top boxes with Internet TV boxes and subscribe to Netflix and Hulu for $14/mo.  An over the air antenna gets us the local channels and live sports and news.  Everything we watch is available online or over the air.  We rely much more heavily on our Internet connection from RTC now which was upgraded to 25meg.  No regrets and I calculated that we have saved $600 this past year.  This isn’t for everyone but I suggest you consider it too.  To find out more...read some of my previous blog posts.

Tivo does Internet TV?

      Tivo has been around for years (since 1999) and is a house hold word.  When the word “Tivo” is mentioned, most think of a smart DVR as it learns from your viewing activity and makes suggestions on what you should watch and record next.  I personally consider the brand “Tivo” as positive and think most folks do as well.  But didn’t the cable company kill Tivo?  Every cable and dish provider has their own DVR box you can buy or lease and Tivo has been on the decline ever since.  Right?

     Enter Tivo Premier.  A box starting at $99.  It is designed to replace your cable box.  It combines traditional pay TV with Internet content from Netflix, Hulu, Blockbuster, Amazon, Youtube, and Pandora.  You can schedule recording remotely with your mobile phone too.  It records up to 45 hours of HD quality as there is a hard drive inside.  But it appears this product is designed to complement your cable TV not replace it.

     The problem I have with the box is the subscription price of $19.99/mo.  While it can replace an existing cable set top, you are still paying a net of $10 - $15 per month for this box.  Plus, if you subscribe to Netflix, that is an additional $7.99/mo on top of your cable bill.  But I am probably going about it all wrong.  This isn’t about cost savings it is about additional content.  So, if you can’t get enough content onto your regular cable box or through Dish Network, then ok, this box is worth looking into further as it combines pay tv with internet tv.  But here’s the thing; most folks I talk to have more content than they can consume and feel they pay way too much for it.  So, I don’t think the Tivo Premier is for the masses or at least the folks I hang around.

So, how would this box do as a dedicated over the top internet tv solution?  Let’s see how it compares:

Tivo

$20/mo for Tivo service

$8/mo for Netflix

$8/mo for Hulu

$36/mo plus $100 up front fee for the box

Dish Network

$37/mo  Dish 120 (1^st 12 months then $50.99/mo after)

Free Installation

So with Dish Network, you get more content and pay no up front fee.  With Dish, that monthly cost would also include TWO boxes both of which are HD DVR.

In sum, I can neither recommend the Tivo premier as a complimentary service or as a dedicated iTV solution either as the economics doesn’t make sense due to the $20/mo Tivo subscription.  You might as well buy regular dish TV instead.  It is a better bang for the buck.