TiVo giveth and taketh away. And so the DVR pioneer has announced its intention to sunset SkipMode — the heavily marketed and largely automated commercial avoidance technology that surely encouraged a subset of folks to partake over the last 11 years.
But good news! As is the way, what was once freely included in one’s service offering will be replaced by a paid upgrade. 🙄
Beginning November 2, 2026, the current version of SkipMode, using the Skip Button on your TiVo remote, will no longer be available. […] We are also excited to share that in November we will be testing a new Premium Auto Commercial Skip add-on service.
There’s no telling how the new feature will be implemented. But with so few TiVo retail consumers hanging on these days, I suspect that once again those left are beta testing a service that TiVo will ultimately pitch to their real customers, the cable company and television manufacturing partners around the world.
(Thanks for the tip Dan!)
That lines up nicely with Verizon stopping CableCARD support on November 5. So it will not matter much that its gone.
I still have my Tivo Roamio from 2015, and it still works fine. However, it’s mostly replaced by a Channels DVR server that I also have. That has autoskip, and doesn’t costs me anything extra than the basic yearly fee for Channels.
I setup the Channels DVR some years back, as a backup in case my Tivo ever failed. But that’s still going. However, the Channels DVR can handle so much more than my Tivo…
I saw this on Reddit. I do wonder how many Tivo customers are left? What about Lifetime members?
Curt, as we know “Lifetime” service is finite and, for those still paying for cable, so is CableCARD. Having said that, my tipster has two Lifetimed boxes that are generally not plugged in. My Lifetimed boxes were long ago divvied up between landfill and resale.
Milking the (dwindling) base. The “premium” feature better work better that the existing which either is not present or consistently misses the mark. Charging for the existing implementation is just another stake in the dying corpse and a non starter. I have learned how many 30 second skips I need for many shows and breaks. Adept at +30/-10. The inconsistency of the current implementation has already trained me for the removal of the automatic. Five bucks = maybe but only is much better. More is a pass.
I really would love to know how many active TiVo’s there are plugged in around the country, working, not being kept in a closet, etc. Mine ended up in a landfill when Verizon switched over in the Philly burbs.
I received the same email. I’m definitely not going to pay for a “premium” service as I don’t use my Tivo Bolt as much as I used to.
The existing commercial skip feature seems to be hit and miss for the programs I watch as to being available. I always assumed that it was built from data collected from users like me skipping over commercials. I may be interested in seeing what shows it’s available for and how reliable the new service is.
I’ve been a TiVo customer since I had a Sony branded one in 2001, got my parents a similar unit, upgraded to the TiVo HD, then the TiVo Roamio, and now am using the Bolt. Every one of my units has had the Lifetime service package, which means that TiVo hasn’t been getting monthly payments from me.