TiVo giving away free TiVos tomorrow

Do you live in the Bay Area and want a free TiVo? Tomorrow afternoon TiVo is giving away free 40GB Series 2 digital video recorders between 11am and 1pm to anyone who shows up with their Comcast cable bill and a gift for The Family Giving Tree Charity in hand. The catch? They don't toss in the service fees, which'll set you back either $12.95 a month or $299 for a lifetime subscription. Obviously a diss at the new $9.99 a month digital video recording service Comcast is rolling out in the Bay Area, but you gotta wonder whether TiVo is really hammering their point home by giving away a box that forces people to spend more per month than they would for Comcast's service.

[Guttrhead @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Thank you Tivo, could you autograph it for me. What's my name you ask? Ummm.... Ebay.

[tiviander @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Comcast also charges a $4.99 box rental fee in addition to the $9.99 subscription fee. So Tivo's fees are not out of line. I have two Replays, so I won't be running down to Alviso tomorrow, but , stiil, not a bad deal.

[TheMatt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Actually, the BIG problem with the Comcast boxes (dual-tuner) is in hook-up. I'm in Boulder, and I recently got the notice that the PVRs were in. I called up the next minute. A few days later when the installer comes, guess what? You can ONLY hook up the box via composite or component (or DVI, but the installer said it was hinky). THAT IS IT!

For some insane reason, Motorola (not Comcast, they apparently were quite annoyed at this) chose to not include a coax out! Think of the sets that will be bypassed. The installer said he'd already been told by a few customers he'd been to to cancel it. One lady had her DVD player removed to install the box (and now she'll have the joy of watching cable on VIDEO 1). So, I too cancelled and will get the box when I get an HDTV. Still, Motorola...idiots.

[Phil Jackson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

A lot of cable companies provide DVRs. I use one of them. They are slow, don't always work right and further tie you to them and are poor knock-offs of the Tivo and Replay devices - except that they have two tuners and tie to the cable interactive program guide.

[Steven the Amusing @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I have Comcast but just "basic" service - no digital cable. Adding TiVo would double my monthly cost - but still be far less than the digital service. I'll be standing in line!

[Arvind @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Well, this all over the news today. Tivo has taken out a full page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle so you can expect a *long* line at their office. Given that it is only $70 AR at Amazon, I don't think its really worth it!

[Keller @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Looks like TiVo finally heard you guys saying that with all the money they have spent on marketing, they could have just bought everyone a TiVo, and they decided to do just that.

[mike bridge @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

your complaint might be true, but comcast has been promising DVRs to the bay area for over a year now, and did not have any ETA for when they would available, until, amazingly, yesterday (thursday, the day before the tivo giveaway). interesting what corporate america can pull out if they get pushed the right way

[Josh @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I went down there today to try to get one. Well, I almost went down there. I got to the "shuttle stop" where the buses were picking people up to shuttle them down to TiVo headquarters because traffic and parking were otherwise too horrendous to actually get near the place. But as I boarded the bus just before 11am, I was told that TiVo had decided not to give any TiVos away until 3pm, so we would all be waiting until then if we decided to wait. I have NO CLUE why they decided that, but it was really mean of them. I mean, sure, it's nice that they're willing to give me a free TiVo. But why would you suddenly go, "Oh, by the way, we're not going to start handing them out at 11am like we said. You'll be standing in line until at least 3pm."

The bus driver said he had been paid to keep shuttling until 6pm. The whole thing was SNAFU.

[Paul @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I got one - #21 in line. Had to get there at the ass crack of dawn (6:45) but it was worth it! This one is a xmas present for the lil bro, one less present to buy lol!