PVRblog has come up with more details about Comcast’s impending rollout of a settop box that will provide DVR and HDTV reception. Matt Haughey seems to think that this “could be another huge setback for TiVo’s financial future” and he may be right.
But, as a Central New Jersey Comcast customer, I’d like to point out one factor in my decision making process that doesn’t seem to come up too much on PVRblog: my monthly bill. My wife and I pay $73.37 per month for a package of services that includes LTD Basic Service, Expanded Service, Value Pac, and Digital Plus. We pay for access on two TVs with settop boxes and remote control. Our bill also includes $0.30 per month for Cable Guard, a service that means that Comcast comes out to fix any wiring problems at our house.
My cousin, Brian Lynch, and I talked about this bill in several emails about two weeks ago. He works for ESPN and I was complaining to him that for $73.37 per month, Comcast didn’t even allow me to watch ESPN Classic. We compared channel offerings and came to the conclusion that my wife and I could save significant money by switching to DirecTV or the Dish Network.
DVR fans talk about cable company DVR offerings without any idea how much the cable companies will charge for the priviledge of renting a DVR unit to us. It’s pretty safe to say that Comcast will charge more than the $3.75 per month that they currently charge me for each settop box and remote control. How much more?
I believe that I can save $10 or more per month by switching to DirecTV or the Dish Network. Even if I add together my TiVo subscription payments, a comparable package of channels, and access from the same number of sets, I’ll still save money. If I can save at least $10 a month, I don’t care how good the DVR functions of Comcast’s settop box are. I also don’t think that HDTV service, where cable may have a temporary advantage, is worth paying a significant premium for. If I don’t get what I want over satellite, I’d take my chances with over-the-air HDTV reception.
I’ve had TiVo for more than three years now, so I’m as big a DVR devotee as anyone. But, I have to ask, how much more do cable companies think we are willing to pay than we are paying now? Why shouldn’t we be looking for ways to lower our bills? At least two options seem to be readily available at this point.