At CES2004 TiVo announced a deal with XM Radio which would let users chain XM’s PCR PC-based XM receiver with HMO to listen to XM through your TiVo. Here is the press release.

Well, this hit the news yesterday: XM Radio pulls PC hardware amid piracy concerns

That definitely looks like a setback for their plans with XM Radio.

And since I’m posting, a little tidbit on Blu-Ray: Blu-ray group gets behind Microsoft tech

From the current TiVo rebate:
Valid only on TiVo model numbers TCD130040, TCD140060, TCD230040, TCD240080, TCD240040, TCD24008A, and TCD24004A, TCD240140, TCD540040, TCD540080, TCD540140, Humax model numbers T800, T2500, and DRT800, Toshiba model numbers SD-H400, RS-TX20, and RS-TX60, Pioneer model numbers DVR-810H, DVR-615H, and DVR-57H

Does anyone else see what I see?

TiVo Second Quarter Subscription Growth Triples (pdf)

I found a new site tonight: TiVo Techies

I’ve added it to the community info.

I just listened to the conference call. I jotted down some notes, but I was multi-tasking since I’m at work and I’ll try listening to the replay later to see if I missed anything good.

General notes:
288,000 net new subscribers this quarter
225,000 net new DirecTV subs
63,000 net new SA subs
1.9 Million total subscribers
Over 1 million DirecTV subs
787,000 SA subs
39.8 million net revenue
10.4 million operating loss

They expect:
340,000-400,000 subs this quarter
240,000-280,000 DirecTV
100,000-120,000 SA
26.4-27.1 million tech revenue
37-41 million operating loss
3 million total subs by the end of their fiscal year (January 2005)
Profitability by the end of the next fiscal year (January 2006)

They’re shifting from upfront licensing to royalty based licensing to attract more consumer electronics partners.
They mentioned where the market, and TiVo, is going – and the intersting bit was a mention of integrated media servers. I didn’t hear any mention of CableCARD on this call, like there was last time, and I was hoping they’d have something to say.

They did mention TiVo To Go as being on track for this fall.

EDIT: Relistening notes below.

TiVo invested in a company named TGC to develop low cost DVR technology in China.

2Q subscriber growth was ~2,000, or 3%, lower than expected. They attribute this to the $199 Toshiba TiVo/DVD promotion which shifted sales. They sold the number of units expected, but more of the TiVo Basic DVD units than they expected. They don’t count those units unless and until the owner upgrades to TiVo Plus.

“All of our marketing and most of our development efforts go into the retail business, characterized today by DVRs and DVR recorders with TiVo sold through national retail distribution. In the future we see this category expanding to include media centers and other home network connected media components. Including products connected to broadband. In other words, products in this catagory are characterized by their differentiation and value over basic DVRs. And according to analysts the market for DVD recorders alone is expected to be about 27 million units by 2007. Today this retail business generates 90% of our revenues from sub fees, and we have about 85% of the market. And later this year we will exceed one million retail subs.”

Current DirecTV agreement runs through February 2007.

The Humax DVD recorder will only have the standard TiVo service, no TiVo Basic.

70-90 million operating loss from the year ended January 2005.

Digital video recorder maker TiVo on Thursday reported a wider quarterly net loss as it increased spending to accelerate subscriber growth.

I *just* finished listening to their quarterly call. I’ll post my notes in a minute.

Whilte the Humax website is still sparse with the details, they now have a buy it now link – and American Satellite spills the beans!

It will be an 80GB system, which I’d surmised from the product number (the T800 and T2500 are 80GB and 250GB – so the DRT800 being 80GB seemed logical). One interesting tidbit – look at the playback formats. I think this is the first TiVo with WMA playback support. MSRP of $499.99.

Host: Mike Ramsay, Chairman and CEO of TiVo
What: TiVo Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2005 Results
When: Thursday, August 26, 2004; 2:00 p.m. PDT
Where: Dial-in: 800-500-0177; Password: 864112
Replay dial-in: 888-203-1112; Password: 864112
Webcast: http://www.tivo.com/ir

Sony Unveils HD PVRs, More HDTVs

C’mon TiVo, you’ve been hinting at CableCARD enabled units. Cable box DVRs are already doing HDTV, and now we’re going to see standalone DVRs with the same capabilities. I’ve been saying that would happen for a while now, and here it is. I don’t want to see TiVo end up late to the party.

Dallas band member won’t be taking along his microphone next time

TiVo needs to sign this guy up for an endorsement deal.

Spotted in PVRBlog