Are Virgin Media preparing to unleash a cheaper TiVo?

Square Eyes has informed the Virgin Media High Definition & TiVo Services Blog that a new version of the TiVo box will be available soon for £49.95 (plus £40 installation fee and £3 per month TiVo fee).

This cheaper version would include a 500Gb hard drive. If the 1TB version is any indication, the 500Gb version would be capable of holding around 162 hours of standard definition recording, or around 50 hours of high-definition recordings.

While there's no official word from Virgin yet on this version of the next-generation PVR, such a version would fit in with previous announced plans to introduce a family of TiVo products for the Digital Cable network, as well as making TiVo an much more attractive (and affordable) option for Virgin Media customers.