Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Customers of broadband and phone provider Virgin Media (O2), specifically those who take their pay TV service and continue to use one of the provider’s legacy TiVo set-top-boxes, have recently been informed – via email – that the BBC’s popular iPlayer service “will no longer be supported” from 23rd July 2025. But it’s not all bad news.
The move (CordBusters) is hardly a surprise given the ever-advancing age of Virgin Media’s TiVo hardware (we suspect it may be the BBC that’s ending support, rather than Virgin), which first launched in 20211 and has already lost a number of features and content over the past few years. The box is now slowly grinding its way toward complete retirement, and new features tend to only launch on their more modern boxes like Stream.
The good news for the small number of TiVo TV customers affected by this is that Virgin Media are offering a free upgrade to their TV360 platform (pictured), which still supports iPlayer. 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.
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.”