Many of the LILUGgers will remember that I talked about uncertain times coming up in the future of MythTV. One of the companies (Zap2it) that provided all the channel information was pulling the plug on the service. Well I just heard great news.

A bit over a month ago I sent an email to Zap2it thanking them for their great service and support of the MythTV community.

From: dotCOMmie [mailto:####@#####.###]
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 9:44 PM
To: Zap2It-Labs
Subject: Thanks for the great service.

Hello

I'm relatively new to the mythTV community, and it is how I got to know zap2it. Non-the less I think you were a crucial part to the tremendous growth of this community, and I'm saddened by your recent decision to stop providing the channel listing service.

The reason I'm emailing you is to convey my deepest thanks to your company for providing such an excellent service to the hobbyist community. I often wish we had more companies like you.

Best Regards
--dotCOMmie

And here is the reply I received today:

From: "Roberge, Andy" ########@#######.###
To: "dotCOMmie" ####@#######.####
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 21:17:44 -0500
Subject: RE: Thanks for the great service.

August 8, 2007

Zap2it Labs received many emails inquiring if television listings could be provided on a paid for basis once the current service is discontinued. Today we are pleased to announce an agreement that will allow for many of you to continue to have access to your personal television listings data.

In collaboration with Schedules Direct, a non-profit organization created by founding members of MythTV and XMLTV, an agreement has been reached that will continue to support the open source and "freeware" communities. As of September 1, 2007, there WILL BE an alternative television listings source for certain Zap2it Labs users who become members of Schedules Direct, which includes a membership fee.

While Schedules Direct will continue to support the open source community and the users of "freeware", it will not support users of "commercial" products, such as DVRs, that were purchased from either a retail outlet or a company that used Zap2it Labs as its television listings source.

For those of you who lived by the original spirit and intent of Zap2it Labs and wish to continue to have access to listings, we encourage you to visit Schedules Direct at http://www.schedulesdirect.org to set up your personal Schedules Direct membership today!

Labs Admin.

I honestly have to say I wasn't expecting a reply let alone such good news. Thank you once again, Zap2it.