TiVo said in its second-quarter earnings report that it will be offering its services baked into set-top boxes in Comcast’s Connecticut footprint.
“We are pleased with the progress of the TiVo service and have broadened its footprint in our New England market to Connecticut,” according to an unidentified Comcast executive who was quoted in TiVo’s earnings press release. “Refinements to optimize the product’s performance have been mostly completed, significantly improving the user experience. Importantly, we intend to light up a full marketing campaign around TiVo in September and, upon this occurring, we will be announcing multiple additional markets to which TiVo will be rolled out through next year. We will also continue to fund development work for the TiVo product, which will include expanding the feature set and adding support for tru2way infrastructure.”
Comcast announced a deal with TiVo back in 2005, but the project to bring TiVo’s digital video recorder (DVR) functionality into Comcast’s set-top boxes proved to be complex. Comcast first launched TiVo’s service on Jan. 22 in the Boston area (story here).
The TiVo service cost Comcast customers in the Boston footprint an additional $2.95 per month, in addition to the $12.95 monthly charge for Comcast’s DVR service.
TiVo has courted cable operators as an additional revenue stream for its service. TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said that the TiVo trials that are underway with Cox Communications are on track for a launch in Cox’s New England market later this year.
For the second quarter, TiVo posted a net income of $2.9 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a loss of $17.7 million, or 18 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenues increased by 4 percent over a year ago, to $65.2 million.
For the six months that ended July 31, TiVo posted $126 million in revenue for a 2 percent increase over the same time frame last year. TiVo had $6.6 million in net income, or 6 cents per share, compared with a loss of 17 million, or 17 cents per share, from the same time period last year.
TiVo’s subscription acquisition costs in the second quarter were $135, compared with $785 from the same time frame a year ago.
TiVo-owned subscription gross additions for the second quarter were approximately 36,000, compared with 41,000 gross additions for the year-ago period. Overall, TiVo-owned subscriptions ended the quarter at approximately 1.7 million. TiVo reported a net decline in MSO/broadcaster subscriptions during the period, largely due to DirecTV no longer deploying new TiVo boxes.
Overall, TiVo now has 3.6 million subscribers, compared with 4.2 million a year ago.
Going forward, TiVo said it expects increased expenses in the current quarter, which include holiday-related marketing and the costs associated with the ongoing patent litigation battle between TiVo and Dish Network.
TiVo and Dish Network have a Sept. 4 court date to determine whether TiVo will be able to collect on the $94 million it was awarded in damages.
More Broadband Direct:
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• Comcast to sell products, services in hhgregg stores
• Harmonic gears up for IBC demos
• Ixia, partners announce TesLA Alliance
• Broadband Briefs for 8/28/08
