TiVo has introduced a $250 four-tuner DVR, the Premiere 4, with one-fourth the storage capacity of company's $400 Premiere XL4.
The company is positioning the Premiere 4, with 500 Gigabytes of storage for up to 75 hours of HD programming, as a more affordable option for TV aficianados to record up to four shows that air at the same time -- particularly on Sunday nights.
"The TiVo Premiere 4 will allow you to go shopping every Sunday night for your week's worth of shows," TiVo vice president of retail sales Doug Bieter said. "It's the warehouse store of television and now viewers can stock up their TiVo without having to worry about scheduling conflicts."
Primetime on Sunday has emerged as a critical timeslot for cable and broadcast programmers to schedule high-profile shows. In its announcement, TiVo highlighted "must-see" Sunday night shows including Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie, Girls, Celebrity Apprentice, Game of Thrones, Homeland, The Good Wife, True Blood, Political Animals and Family Guy.
For MSO partners, TiVo provides a four-tuner DVR model, the Premiere Q, which has 500 GB of storage. RCN currently offers the Premiere Q to customers; other cable operators that have distribution deals with TiVo include Charter Communications and Suddenlink Communications.
The CableCard-based Premiere 4 is now available to order through tivo.com, and will be available shortly through retailers including Best Buy's Magnolia stores nationwide. The DVR carries a $249.99 list price, plus a monthly service fee of $14.99 with a one-year commitment.
The Premiere 4 includes multiroom-DVR features, and like the Premiere XL4 is available with an optional MoCA adapter in addition to its integrated Ethernet connectivity.
TiVo in March began shipping the 2-Terabyte Premiere XL4, which was previously called the Premiere Elite.
