If you're a TiVo owner, we have some bad news. Within the next 90 days any recorded content you want to watch will trigger pre-roll ads before it plays.
As Light Reading reports, TiVo has decided to unlock a new source of revenue by introducing ads that play ahead of DVR recordings. A TiVo spokesperson confirmed that, "DVR advertising is going to be a permanent part of the service ... We expect to be fully rolled-out to all eligible retail devices within 90 days."
Eligible devices means any player running TiVo Experience 4, with Bolt, Roamio, and Vox devices all getting the pre-roll ads. The forthcoming TiVo Edge device will also have them included. TiVo isn't going to force you to watch the ads as the ability to skip them exists. However, the experience is not meant to be great based on reports from customers who are already seeing the ads.
Zatz Not Funny! has captured footage of the pre-roll ads (watch above) and it's not a seamless experience. A spinning blue circle appears on the screen as the ads load before SD-quality low bit rate ads play. Pressing fast forward skips the current ad, but another will load for what looks like a minimum of 15 seconds of ads. After that, the content you wanted to watch will be allowed to play. If you restart the content, you'll have to suffer a fresh batch of pre-roll ads.
Although TiVo sees this as a way of generating fresh revenue, I can't help but feel it will simply push more customers to go elsewhere, grab a streaming box, and sign up to one or more streaming services instead. The free, over the air shows you're recording with TiVo will end up on a streaming service eventually anyway, right?
There's a lot of people out there who've enjoyed their TiVo experience for years, but I suspect pre-roll ads may be a step too far for some. TiVo owners, please tell us what you think in the comments.