I have just had the warning message on my aging TiVo box that BBC iPlayer won't be accessible on this box after 23July. To date I have yet to receive any emails from VM about this, and as a result any info on what my options are! Apparently a " “small proportion” of customers still using these old boxes (that are now more than 10 years old) are being offered an upgrade to the TV360 box at no extra cost.
My question is - is it just a simple case of contacting VM and requesting the TV360 box regardless of whether I have received the email or not? (As far as I am aware my marketing/contact preferences are correct for emails! )
You might receive an email in the next few day, or you might, not so it's best to be proactive if you are wanting to upgrade your tivo for free.
A Virgin Media spokesperson told ispreview :“We have written directly to the small proportion of customers with a TiVo box, who have used BBC iPlayer within the past six months, to inform them that their box will not support iPlayer from 23 July. As we have previously communicated directly to relevant customers, anyone with a TiVo box is able to upgrade to a new Virgin TV 360 box at no extra cost"
Customers can of course choose to ignore this offer and the TiVo box will continue to work (even if iPlayer will probably cease to function), but the reality is that it’s only a matter of time until the TiVo box itself meets its end. If you access iPlayer via your smart TV/firestick etc then you can continue to use your tivo box as it is if that's what you prefer.
You need to be aware that the TV360 uses a completely different interface (Horizon) compared to the tivo that you are used to. <This youtube video> although it's 4 years old shows you how the 360 box interfacel ooks and works. (It has changed slightly in 4 years) It also lacks a number of tivo patented copyright features that you are used to. See <this post>
The TV360 box has other additional apps that aren't available on the tivo. The current list of apps on the 360 (July 7th 2025) is:- 5, Al Jazeera, A-Maze-ing Mac, Apple TV+, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds, Channel 4, Dance TV, DAZN, Deutsche Welle, Disney+, Fiit, Fireplace, Fishing TV, Fit at Home, France24, Hangman, ITVX, Mubi, Netflix, Paramount+, Pluto TV, Prime Video, QVC+, Radio Line, Rakuten, Solitaire Classic, Space Moodies, STV Player, Subscriptions, Tetris, U, VM Store, Wall Street Journal, World Poker Tour, You Tube
You will also find some additional channels accessible via the EPG on the 360 box that aren't available on the tivo box. These are called FAST channels (Free Ad Supported streaming TV)
If you subscribe to Sky Sports then you will gain access to Sky Sports+ which is an actual Sky Sports channel with additional red button content that isn't available to tivo customers. The additional red button content is streamed over the internet and cannot be recorded, see /the-edit/sky-sports-plus
EDIT - I forgot to say that if you do switch to TV360 then you will lose all of your recordings (some may be available via On Demand or Catch Up serices) and series links so make a note of them before switching if you do decide to switch. Also if you are in two minds and decide to wait then currently if your tivo breaks down it will be replaced with a V6 box which uses the same tivo backend system that you are used to.
Mentioning that you have a multiroom V6 setup alters the advice. In TiVo/V6 land, all boxes are self-sufficient with their own HDD and full multiroom streaming available.
Horizon/TV360 is based around one central recording pool with additional boxes all slaving off the master, and not having storage of their own.
Thus... if you opt to migrate your TiVo to TV360, then what you'll likely end up with is... your existing V6 is reformatted and software-converted to TV360-master. The TiVo is swapped for a TV360-mini without HDD, and become a fully slave box... or maybe even a non-recording Stream, I'm not sure on the current permutations.
A straight swapout from legacy TiVo to current V6, while keeping everything else as-is, would be a lot simpler in this case.
newapollo has touched on a few bits, but as a headline view...
iPlayer is indeed being removed from the legacy TiVo-box (and not a moment too soon, many would say), but TiVo refers as much to the software as the box itself.
VM are encouraging migrations to the newer Horizon software, which runs on the same hardware as the newer V6 box. In other words.. V6 runs TiVo-software, TV360 runs Horizon-firmware... but using the same physical hardware.
TiVo is very recording-centric with streaming added on. TV360 is very online-oriented with recording added on. To migrate to TV360 should be simple, as VM are keen on it. If you did decide to prefer a V6, it may be slightly harder work.
The streaming "channels" that newapollo has mentioned, are mostly available on the V6 as well as TV360. There may be some that aren't, but the sample handful I've checked, are. The Sky Sports+ HD multiscreen is also available on both boxes equally. The difference is in the software and the menu interface, not the channel availability.
Note that an upgrade to a 360 will mean that the existing V6 will be migrated to a 360 (done by software, so you keep the box). I suspect that VM will send round a tech to do the upgrade.
Good point, I'd missed that point in the second post.
I'd bet the TiVo will actually be swapped for a TV360-mini and (in doing so) lose the hard drive. If there's already a V6 onsite, that can be converted to TV360-master and thus the second box doesn't need a hard drive.... in Horizon-land.
Thanks all, if my understanding of what Roger and Japitts have said is correct I may be better off just sticking with the v6 and the aging TiVo. BUT bring the v6 into the living room and put the TiVo in the other room.
What you propose could work well if the TiVo is only going to be used as a secondary box which you may wish to record on, but it's slow and limited and on its way out and VM is going to dump it sooner or later.
