TiVo Plans to End Free Automatic Commercial Skipping in November, Tests Paid Premium Replacement Service
Cord Cutters News
TiVo Plans to End Free Automatic Commercial Skipping in November, Tests Paid Premium Replacement Service | Cord Cutters News
TiVo has begun notifying customers of a significant change to one of its longest-standing and most popular DVR features. 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 […]
Gather ‘round kids, time for a story. The year was 2003, and TiVo had defined the category of DVRs and instantly become indispensable. People loved that they could fast-forward through commercials, much to the chagrin of networks and advertisers.
But a new competitor entered the scene: ReplayTV, a product that did everything TiVo did with one major added benefit: it automatically detected and skipped commercials without having to press a button. It was glorious. So naturally, like all things which improve the life of a consumer, the powers-that-be took umbrage. Funded by TiVo lobbying, the FCC decided that not having to press a button on a remote was a bridge too far. ReplayTV was crushed by a heavy fine and ban, relegating them to the tech scrap heap. Thus TiVo maintained their position as market leader, despite having an inferior experience.
All this to say: fuck you TiVo, you wasted your brand clout and position by getting into bed with the same lawmakers who fomented your demise when the HD era was legislated to ban commercial-skipping mechanisms.
My mom watched Coronation Street. She wasn’t home when it was on because she had a job like so many other people.
We got this VCR that would record the show then erase the commercials because networks couldn’t resist playing ads louder so it would detects the volume increase and tag those as ad starts and finishes. When you went back to watch the show the ads would fast forward.
Ironically, it’s those ephemeral local ads you were erasing that were worth saving and not the shows that are still available.
Edit: If someone says they have a VHS copies of the X-Files, I wouldn’t take them UNLESS they had all the advertisements. I can get the X-Files streamed or on DVD or Blueway or MK4. What I can’t get is a 1:1 recording of the experience of watching the show as it was watched at the time in Dubuque, Iowa. Now, yes, commercials do suck, but it’s a little different when they’re a peek into a lost world.
*(I’d also need to get a VCR player and a CRT, too.)
People are downvoting you, but I get it. My dad loved old time radio shows. And his favorite part was the old advertisements.
I’m guessing the downvoters have no nostalgia for advertisements–because they never watched them or because they are too young to nostalge–or that they are acolytes of Rod Serling.
Dunno if it still works, but I use to ask the Amazon echo to play Abbott and Costello (from “who’s on first?” fame). What it played included the commercials of the day.
You could hear the advertisers make the claim that Lucky Strike cigarettes were approved by a majority of doctors.
I have a copy of The Hunt For Red October that was taped in December off of HBO, and it’s got this ad before it for…you know those children’s games, it’s a plastic enclosure, you fill it with water, there are like little plastic rings or balls, and you like push a button to squirt water around the enclosure to move the rings around, it’s like if you explained the concept of Pinball to someone, and the only language you share in common is Klingon? I have a late 80’s early 90’s ad for that.
I still remember the local ads. We still had to watch ads on live tv. Just a few shows that were recorded got to be ad free.
The Captain made “famous” ads back in the 90s. youtu.be/-vEXqG54hCw
Yessss!!! This is what I’m talking about!
Damn, that sound spike Inuti/TurboTax making taxes easier, then using all that profit to lobby against anyone making taxes even easier.
TIVO still exists?
Well… For now…
Yeah there’s not much reason to use it anymore so chipping away at it now guarantees its death.
Depends on the use case. If you’re someone that wants to watch shows that air on broadcast television, OTA (over the air) DVRs are a great way to get TV content without a cable or streaming service subscription. With the increased number of OTA stations now that represents a lot of ad-skippable content. We get close to 40 OTA stations at our house with just an antenna in the attic.
Jellyfin does that
Appliance based DVRs are turn-key solutions. I hope we both agree setting up a Linux box, obtaining a compatible OTA tuner, downloading and configuring Jellyfin all on hardware that is easily integrated into a general home entertainment setting is not a trivial task that most non-technically inclined folks can accomplish.
I personally ran PC based software DVRs for many years predating Jellyfin, but even in those years we had a Tivo for the wife.
I get that, but the commercial options are getting downright abusive so the DIY stuff is all that’s practical anymore. Besides, there are many places where broadcast is pretty much dead anyway.
literally the first words out of my mouth. seeing a news headline about TiVo feels like i’m back in 2001
same here, I was like what year is this
Too many people will be too ignorant and will gladly pay for it. Prime Netflix etc are all still raking in the dough after implementing ads, most people just dgaf
Some people, not too many.
If it wasnt too many, Netflix etc wouldnt be raking in the dough
Wow, what are the odds these are related???
Remember, every dollar is a vote. Ohh you don’t have millions of dollars laying around to vote with!?
Why would they be?
The boomers will pay it too
Huh, boomer bad amirite
With technology? Hopelessly bad. People need to look out for their family in this sense.
Boomers are the only people using it.