Frontier Communications has begun to promote a new offering called “FreedomTV” that’s targeted to cord-cutters and broadband-only subscribers that is based on TiVo’s Roamio OTA model.
Word of the promotion, first spotted by DSL Reports, comes about seven months after Frontier and TiVo announced plans to offer a co-branded version of the TiVo Roamio OTA, an HD-DVR model that provides access to over-the-air broadcast TV as well as over-the-top content from sources such as Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video.
A web site about the FreedomTV offer says it starts at $20 (with a year of Amazon Prime baked in), with the caveat that subs also get a qualifying Internet service from Frontier and agree to a one-year service agreement (or get hit with a $100 early termination fee).
Subs who take the FreedomTV option can also get a TiVo Mini (an IP client to access service on an additional TV) or the TiVo Stream (a streaming sidecar that can deliver live TV and recorded shows to mobile devices) for an additional $9.99 per month.
According to the fine print, Frontier recommends an Internet service that provides at least 6 Mbps, and notes that OTA TV reception requires “clear line-of-sight.”
TiVo introduced the $49.99 Roamio OTA DVR in August 2014 as a “limited edition” model, and expanded to full-on national distribution in January 2015. The Roamio OTA does not contain a CableCARD slot, but is outfitted with 500 Gigabytes of storage, four tuners, Ethernet connectivity, built-in 802.11n WiFi, and access to features such as TiVo OnePass.
As shown in the video below (published on YouTube on Sept. 21, 2015), FreedomTV is clearly targeted to broadband only customers or cable TV subs that are looking to ditch their pay TV subscriptions:
Frontier has also begun to offer all new high-speed Internet subscribers (not just FreedomTV subs) a free year of Amazon Prime, the subscription offering that provides free two-day shipping and access to the Amazon Prime video library, Prime Music and the Kindle Owner’ Lending Library.
Cablevision Systems, which is being acquired by Altice Group, has introduced new service packages tailored for cord-cutters that ties together broadband and OTA digital antennas.
