Sunday, August 12, 2007

SchedulesDirect Announces Pricing and Details of Zap2it Replacement TVGuide Service

UPDATE: BE SURE AND READ THE UPDATED INFORMATION ON THE TV GUIDE SITUATION AT THIS POST



Pay a one-time fee for a commercial HTPC software or pay periodically for a "freeware" or open source HTPC software. It's a concept that will be difficult to swallow for many MythTV, GBPVR and Media Portal enthusiasts.
Fresh Details from the Zap2it Labs free tv guide replacement now called SchedulesDirect. As I have detailed over the past month (here and here), beginning September 1st, Zap2it Labs will cease offering the free TV guide data that has been used by HTPC/PVR software such as MythTV, Media Portal and GBPVR. (Note: this doesn't affect Snapstream BTV, Sage TV or MCE users as those software companies already pay for their guide service).

Schedules Direct, a non-profit organization was created by leaders of MythTV, MacProgGuide and XMLTV to provide low-cost, TV guide listings for the users of open source and freeware HTPC applications. The key statement in that mission is "LOW COST" and not free. Here are the pricing details:

Payment will be handled by Paypal. The cost is expected to be $15 for the first 3 months non-recurring. They expect pricing to drop by the end of the first three months with a goal of $20 per year. They don't currently expect to offer a lifetime subscription so it looks like the open source freeware programs are now going to be more of a subscription-based cost vs. the paid BeyondTV, SageTV and MCE programs being more of a one-time cost.


Another possible TVGuide provider might be CTpvr. Again, it will be a fee-based service but the pricing details are not yet available.