Fans of the Tablo over-the-air DVR can look forward to its commercial skip feature coming to the iOS and Android apps. This will allow Tablo users to record shows off their local airwaves, then watch them on their phone or tablet without ads.
Tablo is a DVR for cord cutters
With cord cutting all the rage, Tablo lets users see and record all the free TV available over their local broadcast networks. These can be watched on a MacBook, iPhone, or iPad, as well as Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV.
Last year, users of Apple TV and other smart settop boxes got beta access to commercial skip, which automatically jumps past ads in recorded shows. But this wasn’t available for Mac or iOS users.
Today, Tablo promised that “before the end of March, our mobile and web apps will be updated to enable commercial-free playback of recordings for Tablo customers with Automatic Commercial Skip enabled.”
Commercial skip isn’t free
While it was in beta, Tablo doesn’t charge for commercial skipping. But testing is coming to an end on Feb. 6. After that, this optional feature will cost $2 a month or $20 a year.
That’s on top of a Tablo TV Guide Data Service, an optional subscription that simplifies scheduling of reoccurring TV shows, and also allows out-of-home streaming. This is $4.99 or $49.99 a year.
And, of course, both of those require a Tablo Over-the-air DVR. The cost for a two-channel model is $149.99, while one that can record four shows simultaneously is $199.99.
Just keep in mind, a $7 a month subscription fee pales in comparison to the $107 a month average cable bill in 2018.
