TiVo
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 4, 1997 |
| Legal Structure | Public |
| Industry | Media & Entertainment Technology |
| Also known as | |
| Official website | https://www.tivo.com |
TiVo, a DVR brand of Xperi Inc. (NYSE: XPER), told DVR customers in September 2026 that beginning November 2, 2026 it would disable the one-button and automatic version of SkipMode, the feature that jumps over a whole commercial break with a single remote press, and would resell the same capability as a paid add-on called Premium Auto Commercial Skip.[1] Manual 30-second skip and fast-forward, which owners have used for more than two decades, stay free and keep working; only the automatic and one-button skip is being removed. TiVo said it would open a 30-day free trial of the paid service in November, after which customers who want automatic ad skipping back will pay a recurring monthly fee that the company has not yet published.
| Before November 2, 2026 | After November 2, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| TiVo service (required for the box to work at all) | $14.99 per month, $149.99 per year, or $549.99 for the All-In plan TiVo sold as lifetime service | Same service, same price |
| One-button and automatic commercial skip (SkipMode) | Included in that service at no extra charge | Removed from the service |
| Price to get automatic skip back | $0, it was already part of the service | A separate Premium Auto Commercial Skip add-on: 30-day free trial, then an extra monthly fee TiVo has not published, charged on top of the service fee |
| Manual 30-second skip and fast-forward | Free | Still free |
Background
[edit | edit source]Corporate structure
[edit | edit source]The TiVo brand is operated by TiVo Platform Technologies LLC, described in Xperi's own announcement as "a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Inc. (NYSE: XPER)". Xperi frames the platform around "new monetization opportunities for partners" spanning "commerce, content discovery, advertising and companion experiences".[3]
SkipMode and Auto Skip
[edit | edit source]TiVo introduced one-button commercial skipping on the TiVo Bolt in September 2015. CNBC reported that with one press of a remote button the new DVR would "skip the entire commercial break", with the device tagging the start and end of each break so a viewer could jump past it. The feature covered about 20 over-the-air and cable channels, mostly the major broadcast networks during prime-time hours.[4]
In 2019, TiVo expanded SkipMode with an "Auto Skip" option under TiVo Experience 4, letting the box skip commercials without any remote press.[5] The commercial-break markers are human-curated by TiVo and supplied to the box. Dave Zatz, writing at the DVR-industry blog Zatz Not Funny, reported that TiVo's solution remained "human curated (at least partially)" and thus tagged a smaller subset of programming, again concentrated on prime time on the major networks. When the box detected an ad, a small "skip in progress" icon appeared with a chime, followed by the video jump.[5] Because a recording only carries skip data if TiVo supplies the markers, TiVo can stop supplying that data to a box it already sold.[1]
Service subscription and the All-In lifetime plan
[edit | edit source]A TiVo box has never worked on its purchase price alone. As PCMag documented in its 2016 Bolt+ review, "you need to subscribe to TiVo's service for guide information, remote access, and updates", at $14.99 monthly, $149.99 annually, or $549.99 for the All-In Service Plan, which PCMag described as "lifetime service". The guide data and the box's advertised features were gated behind that ongoing service from the start, and the $549.99 All-In plan was sold as the way out of the recurring charge.[2]
Exit from DVR hardware
[edit | edit source]TiVo stopped selling DVR hardware on October 1, 2025, ending 26 years in the hardware business. The company told Variety that "TiVo no longer manufactures hardware, and our remaining inventory is now depleted", and said its experience "lives on in our TiVo OS for Connected Televisions". Existing DVR owners were left as the last hardware customers of a company that had already turned its attention to its smart-TV operating system and advertising technology.[1]
Incidents
[edit | edit source]2026 SkipMode commercial-skip paywall
[edit | edit source]- Main article: TiVo SkipMode commercial-skip paywall
In September 2026, TiVo began notifying DVR customers that on November 2, 2026 the one-button and automatic version of SkipMode would be removed from the standard service, a server-side change reported by Cord Cutters News. After that date, existing recordings that already carry SkipMode markers keep working, but new recordings "will no longer receive the free skip data". Manual 30-second skip and the fast-forward control stay free; Cord Cutters News noted those methods "do not rely on the company's commercial-detection data", so TiVo cannot switch them off the same way.[1]
TiVo said it would sell the removed capability back as an add-on called Premium Auto Commercial Skip, opening with a 30-day free trial in November. After the trial, customers who want the automatic or one-button skip back "will need to add it to their accounts for an extra monthly fee"; the company had not published the price at the time of the announcement. The feature TiVo built its DVR pitch around, automatic ad skipping, becomes a monthly charge for the customers who already bought the box.[1]
Charging owners a recurring fee to keep a feature that shipped with the product, a practice related to planned obsolescence, has been documented at other companies. Peloton removed the free "Just Run" mode from its $4,000 Tread+ treadmill and told owners they would need a $39 monthly membership to run without instructor classes.[6] Amazon's Ring moved Home and Away Modes, and even the ability to arm or disarm the alarm, behind a paid subscription starting March 29, 2023, from $3.99 a month.[7] In each case a capability included with the purchase was later placed behind a recurring fee.
2019 DVR pre-roll advertisements
[edit | edit source]In September 2019, TiVo began inserting video advertisements before playback of DVR recordings.[8] Zatz Not Funny documented the behavior: "an advertisement plays for about 15 secs, then the recording starts" on recorded content. A TiVo spokesperson told Light Reading, in a statement Zatz Not Funny reproduced, that the practice was permanent:
"DVR advertising is going to be a permanent part of the service".[8]
The same spokesperson said TiVo expected to be "fully rolled-out to all eligible retail devices within 90 days". The pre-roll rollout established, years before the 2026 SkipMode change, that TiVo would push new advertising and monetization onto DVR boxes customers had already bought.[8]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Bouma, Luke (2026-09-04). "TiVo Plans to End Free Automatic Commercial Skipping in November, Tests Paid Premium Replacement Service". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Santo Domingo, Joel (2016-10-05). "TiVo Bolt+ Review". PCMag. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ "TiVo OS Unveils Major Platform Enhancements at IFA 2026". Xperi Inc. 2026-09-03. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ "New TiVo DVR will skip through entire commercial break". CNBC. 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Zatz, Dave (2019-04-02). "TiVo Automatic Commercial Skipping Debuts This Spring". Zatz Not Funny. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ Larkin, Alexandra (2021-06-22). "Peloton turned a free feature on its $4,000 treadmill into a $39 monthly subscription". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2025-05-13. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ Bode, Karl (2023-03-08). "Amazon Annoys Ring Owners Further By Making Very Basic Features Subscription Based". Techdirt. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Zatz, Dave (2019-09-21). "TiVo Sullies DVR Recordings with Video Ads". Zatz Not Funny. Retrieved 2026-09-04.