Patrick O’Grady
Due: 03/19/2016.
Current Application 1
Management 1010
One recent decision I made was whether or not to get a TiVo DVR or continue renting a DVR
from my cable service provider. While looking at my recent cable and internet bill I was shocked to
discover that I was paying $20 each month for my cable companies DVR as well as another $7 each
month to lease their cable modem, which was required when using their DVR services. This was very
troubling as I am a college student living on my own and I could use all them money I can save, and $27
is a lot to pay monthly to simply rent equipment, this caused my search to begin. I began my research by
scouring the web from various sources about their experiences with TiVo’s and the pros and cons the
TiVo has to o4er.
During my research I found that I could get the TiVo Bolt 500 GB DVR for $249.99 that comes
with a one-year subscription free to the TiVo services. The most troubling information I found about TiVo
was that there is a yearly subscription fee of $150 yearly which breaks out to be $12.50 each month
which is still cheaper than the $27 each month in rental fees I was paying at the time. During my
research I had also discovered that in order to receive all my cable channels from my cable provider I
would need to still rent what is called a Cable Card which would allow my TiVo to access the channels
provided in my cable package.
A9er learning that I would still need to rent equipment I was discouraged, until I called my cable
company and was told that the Cable Card would only cost me $3.50 each month. So I calculated the
total monthly cost of the TiVo DVR to be $16.00 each month with the cost of the TiVo service fee and the
rental of the Cable Card from my cable company, which was still $11 cheaper a month than my current
cable company’s DVR and cable modem that I lease. The next step in my decision process was to
compare the features of the TiVo DVR to the features on the DVR my cable provider was leasing me and
realized the TiVo DVR would allow me to access online media streaming options such as Hulu, Ne>lix,
Amazon Prime Video, HBO GO, and many more options that my cable company’s DVR didn’t o4er.
Next I tallied up Initial cost for a TiVo Bolt which was $249.99 with another $94.99 for the new
cable modem, this will eliminate the $27 a month rental fee with a new rental fee of only $3.50 for my