Spectrum ending support for Tivo

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It absolutely could be true now, but I was told the exact same thing from a service tech (then Time Warner) about ten years ago when I was having issues with a Series 3.

 

That plus the fact that there are so few Tivos around I don't think they really give them much thought. Most field techs have never seen one.

 

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Just got an email from a Spectrum supervisor following up on a problem we've had with out TA/Cable Card on one of our TiVos. It's getting most channels, but not all it should be getting. Supervisor wants to send techs to check it out further, but my wife doesn't want them in the house again because of the virus. Upshot is that at least in my area Spectrum is still supporting TiVos.

 

A month or so ago when I had problems with my Tivo and Spectrum had problems getting the cable card to pair (they ended up replacing cable card and tuning adapter) the Spectrum tech was on the phone with their TIVO expert group (he said). That may disappear also but at least they had TIVO experts on staff

 

yep cc is on its way out.

I wouldn't doubt if a cable company stops allowing new cablecard installs, but I also wouldn't take one tech's word for it either.

 

I can pretty much predict the answer will be that they simply exit the retail business and just take their income from their patents and agreements.

 

That is their escalation process. They can't just take your word on anything (and saying shibboleet does not work), they have to check it out for themselves before further internal escalation. Just like those help desks that have to follow a script, your local people have to follow such a script. Sometimes that ends up meaning that the tech who was sent out ends up standing around talking to some support center person who will try one thing after another and get no where, but that checks the boxes to allow for the escalation.

 

I didn't give the whole long story of my experience. I've had techs here for a total of about 20 man hours a few months ago. Replaced most of the coax system. Took my TiVo to their office and and found it worked perfect there. Found that the problem was in the local SDV node and fixed it (at least partially). So, they spent countless hours working on the problem, but haven't quite fixed it completely.
So, my point is, again, in my area Spectrum has not stopped supporting TiVos.

 

Hi just was browsing and noticed this post. I'm in central Florida now and have Spectrum cable only in this community (no choice). Had no hangups ordering a cable card cost 1.00 monthly for my Bolt. Registered in a flash, hardest part was figuring the spectrum locals for the install with about 10 to choose from. Also did not need a TA device.

 

You're lucky those things are a pain in the ass!

 

I had to re-pair a cable card to a new Edge this past weekend because my Bolt died a couple of weeks ago. It took some time and while I was chatting with the rep on the phone, she said that in the 13y that she's worked for Spectrum/TW, she's only gotten like 10 calls about cable cards. She wanted to know what was so good about TiVos. I gave her some examples (mainly about wish lists) and she was taken aback. She had no idea what TiVos could do.

At any rate, if I couldn't run my TiVos anymore, I'd probably ditch my cable. I spend an insane amount on my cable precisely because I am so married to my beloved TiVos. Its the 3rd most expensive bill that I have behind my house and car. Can I get Spectrum to pay me alimony if they make me divorce my TiVos?

 

do any streaming services (youtube tv, hulu with live tv, etc ) support tivo ?
I'm with Spectrum and am planning ahead

 

no

 

so if Spectrum is my only cable option and they give out no new cablecards or tuning adapters if I buy a new Tivo it is useless ?

 

No

Yes

 

TiVo's business is either as a patent troll, or supplying TiVos to smaller regional MSOs and overbuilders, it's not in the retail market. The demise of pay TV could be the demise of TiVo, the demise of retail CableCards and QAM TV will not be.

Most cable systems are limited by upstream bandwidth, not downstream. The idea with IPTV is that as they move channels to IPTV, they have more space to put more downstream channels in. The problem is the details of how to do IP multicast and who's connected to what DS channel group. They will eventually figure out how to go all-IP as pay TV further declines, and more viewing shifts to On Demand, which is IPTV anyway (at least on Comcast X1 it is).

 

Well, I recently went back to Spectrum Select and have been using their roku app which is less than desirable. I have 2 older working tivo hd's so I ordered a 2 cable cards online with Spectrum last night and was told no problem and they will ship. I hope I can still get them paired given Spectrum wanting to get rid of cable cards. I will follow up with my experience.

Jim

 

Apparently there are a few Spectrum local support units that will attempt to support TiVo’s — I don’t think your experience is uniform across all Spectrum regions. Also, if your experience represents how “good” things are with support, my reaction is “time for something else”. My “something else” is YouTube TV. I cut Spectrum cable a year ago. I wanted to take my TA out in a field and stomp and burn it, but since that would have cost me over a $100 unreturned equipment charge I had to forego that pleasure.