Beem, the new online DVR service that hooks into your social networks, has just announced their pricing structure. The good news is that there’s still a free version.
I’ve been playing around with the beta for a couple of weeks (stay tuned for thoughts on it tomorrow), but it’s interesting to see how the startup plans to make its cash.
In two weeks, beta users will be pushed onto the new pricing structure. The free version will allow as many shows to be scheduled as possible, but only one to be recorded. A premium subscription service will also be offered for $9.95 a month, which gives you up to 10 recordings. Once your plan begins recording an 11th program, it automatically deletes your first, so you don’t have to worry about managing your space.
The guys at Beem are quick to point out that even with the $10 a month pricing model, it will still take you more than two years to have paid the equivalent price of a TiVo. But given that the TiVo offers a lot more storage space and the ability to export recordings to your PC, that may not be the best analogy.
In any case it’s interesting to see that they’ll be charging straight out of the gate when they move out of beta mode. The question is how many people are interested?