TiVo claims that TV networks are refusing to allow the company to run ads on its new 4K-capable Bolt DVR because they are annoyed with the product’s ad-zapping "SkipMode" feature.  

SkipMode, a controversial component initially offered on TiVo’s new 4K-capable Bolt device and recently extended to TiVo’s family of Roamio DVRs deployed in markets such as Chicago and San Francisco, lets users skip commercial breaks in recorded shows with the click of a button.

Early on, that capability is being supported on almost two dozen channels, including the Big 4 broadcasters, for shows (except for local content and sporting events) that run each day between 4 p.m. and midnight. SkipMode can also work on TiVo Mini boxes that are connected to a Bolt or Roamio.

“We’re totally cool with viewers keeping their cable subscriptions alive and well. But we also understand that commercial interruptions are one of the biggest annoyances for many cable-goers, despite commercials being a source of revenue for the networks,” TiVo said in this blog post dated March 29. “So, when we wanted to advertise the heck out of TiVo BOLT, why did the networks refuse to run our ads? The reason? SkipMode™, one of the TiVo BOLT’s flagship features.”

TiVo’s blog item did not identify any specific broadcasters or cable networks that refused to run ads for Bolt. Multichannel News has asked the company for those and to see if SkipMode is the sole reason for their refusal.

Update: TiVo is not commenting beyond what it said in the blog posting. 

The current crop of SkipMode-enabled channels include ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, AMC, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, TBS, FX, TLC, History, TNT, CW, Food Network, USA Network, Bravo, ABC Family (now Freeform), Syfy, Lifetime, and HGTV.

Broadcasters and other TV programmers historically have not taken kindly to ad-skipping features. In February, Dish Network and 21st Century Fox announced they had settled a lawsuit over the satellite giant’s AutoHop ad-skipping feature, agreeing to disable the feature for seven days after a program originally airs. AutoHop has been a key part of recent carriage negotiations for Dish, which agreed to disable the feature renewing carriage deals with The Walt Disney Co. (which was not part of the 2012 suit) in March 2014 and with CBS in December 2014. Comcast’s NBC Universal unit remains sole litigant in the original AutoHop suit that hasn’t announced a settlement with Dish. 

Notably, TiVo is surfacing this amid a restructuring in which it will reduce retail-focused spending while placing a greater emphasis on MVPD partnerships. TiVo is also reportedly in acquisition talks with Rovi.

TiVo announced that it is offering HBO Go, the premium programmer’s TV Everywhere app, and the kids-focused Toon Goggles VOD service via the new TiVo Bolt as well as its Roamio and Premiere retail product line.

ZatzNotFunny reported in December that HBO Go was coming to the TiVo platform. HBO Go will be available to TiVo users who are also HBO subscribers who get pay TV service from MVPD that authenticate on that platform.

HBO Go will also be appearing on specific MSO-supplied TiVo boxes. HBO Go was referenced in TiVo’s new deal with Buckeye CableSystem. It’s not clear yet when the app will be offered to other TiVo U.S. MVPD partners, which include  GCI, RCN, Grande Communications, Suddenlink Communications and Mediacom Communications, among others.

TiVo is also extending its  SkipMode feature to its entire Roamio family starting Thursday (February 18), and expects to complete that rollout by February 26.

SkipMode, a controversial feature initially offered on TiVo’s new 4K-capable Bolt device and on  Roamio DVRs deployed in Chicago and San Francisco, lets users skip commercial breaks in recorded shows with the click of a button. Early on, that capability is being supported on about two dozen channels, including the Big 4 broadcasters, for shows (except for local content and sporting events) that run each day between 4 p.m. and midnight. SkipMode can also work on TiVo Mini boxes that are connected to a Bolt or Roamio.

TiVo has been testing a network/cloud DVR with several operators, including with Virgin Media, for a while but it doesn’t appear that anyone’s ready to take the plunge just yet. 

“It’s not something that many operators are prepared to move forward with quickly as it relates to their core set-top service,” TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers said ahead of the company’s Q3 call. TiVo showed off a prototype of its network DVR at the 2014 CES.

“It’s really less about us and our ability to provide it and more about when their readiness will be there, which has a lot of hardware implications for them, as well as content rights implications for them,” he said, noting that “we’ve trialed it, and it works.”

Those legal and storage implications are particularly acute in the U.S., where network and cloud DVR offerings must make individual recordings, versus a more efficient model in which a copy could be shared by multiple subs. It’s the approach that Comcast and Cablevision Systems are using for their respective cloud DVR and “remote-storage” DVR products.

For now, Rogers said there’s more interest among TiVo’s partners on approaches that enable viewers to access and sideload recorded shows via mobile apps and devices, something that TiVo already does, and a capability that Verizon FiOS is starting to introduce on its Quantum TV platform.

Elsewhere in TiVo-land, the company is about to extend two features found on its new Bolt DVR – QuickMode and SkipMode – to its last-gen Roamio DVR family.

Per this TiVo Roamio holiday sale page, QuickMode and  SkipMode are slated for release on TiVo Roamio DVRs on Dec. 10.  

QuickMode enables playback at 1.3 times real time with pitch-corrected audio. However, SkipMode, a feature that lets users skip commercial breaks in recorded shows with the click of a button on almost two dozen channels, will initially be offered on Roamio products in the San Francisco/Bay Area and Chicago markets.