TiVo Will Start Charging Fees For Its Automatic Commercial Break-Skipping Feature 'SkipMode' (cordcuttersnews.com)
- Reference: 0185457226
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/26/09/06/0347252/tivo-will-start-charging-fees-for-its-automatic-commercial-break-skipping-feature-skipmode
- Source link: https://cordcuttersnews.com/tivo-plans-to-end-free-automatic-commercial-skipping-in-november-tests-paid-premium-replacement-service/
> Starting November 2, 2026, the current version of SkipMode that allows users to jump over commercial breaks with a single button press on the remote will no longer be available. The company is instead preparing to test a new paid add-on called Premium Auto Commercial Skip.
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> SkipMode has been a core part of the TiVo experience [2]for years . After a supported show finished recording, the service added markers that let viewers leap from the end of one program segment directly to the start of the next, bypassing the ads in between. On newer TiVo Experience 4 devices, users could even set the feature to automatic so commercials were skipped without any remote interaction. The feature was limited to popular prime-time programming on major networks, typically appearing a short time after a show aired.
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> Under the new plan, that one-button and automatic functionality will disappear from the standard service. Viewers will still be able to skip commercials the traditional way by using the 30-second skip button or the fast-forward control on their remotes. Those manual methods have existed on TiVo boxes for more than two decades and do not rely on the company's commercial-detection data. In November, TiVo will offer a 30-day free trial of the new Premium Auto Commercial Skip service. After the trial ends, customers who want to keep the automatic or one-button skip capability will need to add it to their accounts for an extra monthly fee.
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> The company has not yet published the price.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader [3]AmiMoJo for sharing the article.
[1] https://cordcuttersnews.com/tivo-plans-to-end-free-automatic-commercial-skipping-in-november-tests-paid-premium-replacement-service/
[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/10/05/0410203/tivos-latest-offering-detects-and-skips-ads-adds-4k-capability
[3] https://www.slashdot.org/~AmiMoJo
TIL TiVo isn't already dead (Score:2)
As much as I loved TiVo back in the day, I would have sworn they died (many) years ago...
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I thought I heard Tivo no longer produces new hardware for direct to consumer sales? I still have my lifetime subscritpion Edge, but there aren't many things I watch on cable anymore. I'd miss the skip feature, but don't think it would be worthwhile to pay for it.
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It's probably like AOL. Where there's a bunch of old people still insisting on using it because they learned how to use the UI back in the day.
Some people when they get older their brains kind of turn to mush. And they become unable to learn new things even simple things. This isn't an insult it's just a fact of reality.
But the things they learned when they were still young before the age-related cognitive decline kicked in are still there.
So you see people stuck in their ways because age has ta
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TiVo was a passible substitute for a Hulu subscription for content from the major broadcast networks, before they moved everything worth watching behind the paywall of online streaming.
These days though? I'd be surprised if there's that many people who have hardware that even still works. Mine's died twice already.
Re: TIL TiVo isn't already dead (Score:1)
When did it start in your case?
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It can't happen to anyone... it only happens to the people who are set in their ways that deep.
The TiVo thing died a while ago... now, you have streaming on your preferred platform, some paid, some not.
Recording broadcast TV died off as soon as Apple or whoever started posting new episodes online later in the night.
WTF was the last sentence in reference to?
I have a TiVo w/ lifetime, under my television set (Score:2)
It's been turned off for something like 7 years now.
I imagine, at this point, TiVo (the company) knows it's just about dead and is simply trying to milk any residual revenue it can from its dwindling user base.
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I have a TiVo HD with the lifetime subscription too. It shit itself again sometime within the last few years (the post-Covid years have all kind of blurred together). The previous time it died, it was because the hard drive had failed, so I bought a new one and reimaged it.
This time I just unplugged it and still haven't gotten around to messing with it. Pretty much the only thing I used it for was so I still had a means of recording OTA TV (which could then be transferred painfully slowly via the TiVo's
Textbook Enshittification (Score:4, Interesting)
* Provide a service that provides a great benefit (commercial skip) to get people hooked
* Build userbase based on this benefit
* Sue other people based on "infringement" of this feature
* Sell itself to a pure patent troll (Rovi) which then renames itself Tivo
* After model of extorting other companies over patent troll portfolio is exhausted, start extorting the customer base
[1]https://www.yahoo.com/entertai... [yahoo.com]
"Rovi has aggressively pursued licensing deals and litigation for its patent portfolio, dating back to predecessor company Gemstar-TV Guide International. Rovi says it has more than 5,000 issued or pending patents worldwide, with intellectual-property licensing representing 54% of its total 2015 revenue.
According to Rovi, its patents are licensed by eight of the top 10 U.S. TV service providers, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications.
On Thursday, Rovi said in an SEC filing that reached a deal with Time Warner Cable â" which is in the process of being acquired by Charter â" to extend its existing interactive program guide and patent licensing agreement. The pact, which was set to expire March 31, has been extended through Dec. 31, 2016.
Last year, Rovi suffered a rare legal defeat against Netflix, after a U.S. federal judge ruled that the five Rovi-owned patents at issue in Rovi's lawsuit against the streaming-video company were invalid.
Rovi said it has not changed its financial estimates for 2016, which anticipated possible litigation with Comcast.
Separately, Rovi has reportedly been in talks to acquire DVR maker TiVo, which also has a sizable patent portfolio and won $1.6 billion to date from intellectual-property litigation."
[2]https://www.yahoo.com/entertai... [yahoo.com]
"t's time to say goodbye, sort of, to the company whose pioneering DVR introduced consumers to time shifting and ad skipping. Some 17 years after it went public, TiVo just became a part of Rovi with the closing of a $1.1 billion cash and stock acquisition deal they made in May â" but with the buyer now adopting the TiVo name."
[1] https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rovi-sues-comcast-alleging-patent-infringement-123836301.html
[2] https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rovi-changes-name-tivo-closes-141453858.html
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I'd just like to point out that you're quoting 10-year-old news items.
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It does seem that enshittification is timeless, at least for time measured since the start of the Internet...
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So noted. The intent was to provide sufficient context (and reference for said context) since enough time has passed that people might not know that the Tivo of today is not the same legal entity as the original Tivo.
We should be glad the original articles haven't bit-rotted into non-existence with how bad the web has gotten...
2000 called (Score:2)
It want's its Tivo back.
Who still uses a Tivo? Who even still has a cable service to hook it to?
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> 2000 called It want's its Tivo back. Who still uses a Tivo? Who even still has a cable service to hook it to?"
I do. It is a much, much better experience than "streaming". And I do have to pay quite a bit for cable TV service, which sucks. I expect it won't be long now before I am forced off.
Not paying (Score:2)
Yep, I got the Email yesterday. Unfortunately, I wasn't shocked. TiVo was sold to another company and they are going to start trying to squeeze customers for more revenue as they become less relevant. But I am not going to pay extra for the feature I have had for many years. Besides, the skip function only works on less than half the content, anyway. It isn't difficult to zoom through commercials manually.
I didn't want to move to the "new experience UI" either, because it is just like all the streaming
Fine TiVo you have there. Shame something might ha (Score:2)
Theyâ(TM)re literally breaking their product and then ransoming it back to you for a monthly protection fee.
Enshitification is too kind of a word
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Wasn't this single feature half the reason you use TiVo in the first place? The other half is just being able to record the show and watch it whenever you want.
Re: Fine TiVo you have there. Shame something migh (Score:1)
Back when I had a TiVo, this wasn't a thing. I cut the cord back in 2006 though -- linear tv is for old people.
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> Back when I had a TiVo, this wasn't a thing. I cut the cord back in 2006 though -- linear tv is for old people.
If you cut the cord back in 2006, you are already old -- at least in the eyes of the youth.
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> "Wasn't this single feature half the reason you use TiVo in the first place?"
No. That was a feature added many years after the start of TiVo. It is not necessary, nor does it even work on half the recorded content. The skip feature is a single press to jump through the commercial section, you always have the option to just zoom through the commercials manually. I have not watched commercials for at least 35 years- first by recording painfully with VCR, then conveniently with several models of TiVo (
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> Enshitification is too kind of a word
Indeed. I am glad I have lost interest in TV shows a long time ago. And the bits of YT I watch all get reliably ad-purged by the Vivaldi browser (other approaches exist, obviously). I have tried a bit of ad-infested YT and other online-media (new installation on a different system), and I can say I would rather go entirely without than subjecting myself to that crap.
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And, that's why I'm glad the only thing that has an active 'que' for AI is my phone... the tower and four laptops have their AI and report-back crap forcibly removed (at least until the next update), and Bixby isn't pay-to-use (my phone is a Galaxy S9) for me.
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The fundamental business model of "unlimited subscriptions" is to threaten you with a good time that can consume ALL of your precious and limited time. You can argue it's less harmful for some computer games and more harmful for drugs, especially the addictive ones. Excuse me for saying "Hell no thanks!"
In related news, "Do your own research" has become code for "With a bit of Internet doodling you can find infinite 'evidence' for any darn fool thing you want to believe." People have always tended to believ
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> "Do your own research" has become code for "With a bit of Internet doodling you can find infinite 'evidence' for any darn fool thing you want to believe."
It's similarly code for, "I haven't actually done any research and neither should you; just believe me 'cause I'm saying what you want to hear."
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Welcome to the new.
Give it time, your toaster and fridge won't work without an up-to-date paid subscription to the AI Overlords.