TiVote

Strange subject... it's a combination of "TiVo" and "vote" - I'll let you guess what this post is about.

The last shall be first: voting. Now, I won't pretend to give you political advice (that's probably worse than my financial advice). Well, not right now, anyway. But I will point out this guy's post... it makes a lot of sense. Nearly pulled straight out of Proverbs 11:14 - "Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers." Just think about it. Think for yourself, and for our nation. A lot depends on it. Don't let someone else make up your mind for you.

Now to TiVo - I'm still struggling with what to do. We're one of what is probably a very small minority of people who (still) use a Series 1 TiVo with a lifetime subscription, and an even smaller percentage who use TiVo with only an over-the-air (OTA) antenna signal. The problem? In 335 days analog broadcasting will be shut off. At that time, my TiVo will be essentially useless, other than to pause what's currently being shown. And that's assuming I get one of the converter boxes, which will be subsidized by the DTV converter box coupons I should receive shortly (subsidized, yes, but the converter box(es) will still not be free, something like $10 to $30 plus tax each for the two on which I can use the coupons). So... my perfectly functional TiVo will become a non-functional TiVo simply because the government wants to reclaim some portion of the Analog TV spectrum.

My TiVo has a lifetime subscription, which is for the lifetime of the TiVo box. Problem is, that will soon no longer be the case - it will be changed to "lifetime of the TiVo box and/or the analog OTA broadcast spectrum." In other words, the government's mandate will cost me my lifetime subscription. I went to the TiVo website, but there is no information there at all concerning DTV converter boxes. What they do offer is for me to purchase a new HDTiVo box ($299), along with offering a lifetime subscription on the new box as a "promotion" (they don't normally offer lifetime subscriptions anymore), at a cost of $399 (60% more than the original lifetime subscription cost back in 2002, which was a gift). In other words, I can keep my "lifetime TiVo subscription" active for $700 (admittedly, with new features in the newer model TiVo). Say what? My "lifetime" subscription is going to cost me another $700 in order to keep it active simply because of the switch from analog to digital broadcast? Something doesn't seem right about this whole thing... I'd consider trying to initiate a class action lawsuit, but I don't know how many others there would be in my "class" (OTA Series 1 or Series 2 TiVo subscribers). That, and I don't know how to initiate a class action lawsuit in the first place. :)