TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 31, 2006. (PDF)

Highlights:
• Total subscription base grows to approximately 4.4 million, which represents 45 percent annual growth
• Annual net loss improvement of 57 percent compared to last year
• First fiscal year of positive cash flow from operations
• TiVo announces new pricing initiative, partnership with Verizon Wireless for mobile programming and TiVo�® KidZone, a new programming tool
• TiVo announces distribution agreement with RadioShack

New Bundled Offering, Flexible Pricing and Service Commitments Will Simplify Offering for Consumers

These are the new pricing plans for units with *no* upfront costs. In other words, you get an 80-hour Series2 for free and pay for the service. I’ve been saying for a while that a cell phone pricing model would be a good thing, and I’m happy to see that they’re doing it:
* The price for a TiVo box and a one-year service commitment is $19.95 a month or $224 prepaid
* The price for a TiVo box and a two-year service commitment is $18.95 a month or $369 prepaid
* The price for a TiVo box and a three-year service commitment is $16.95 a month or $469 prepaid

These are for units purchased directly from TiVo, via www.tivo.com or 1-877-BUY-TIVO.

There will also be new pricing for units purchased at retail, again with 1-, 2-, and 3-year pre-paid options.

NOTE: Lifetime is going away next week! TiVo is eliminating the lifetime subscription option. I’ve speculated in the past that we’d see this happen, especially after the successful trials last year that lead into the new pricing, and while I’m sorry to see it happen, I’m not surprised. Lifetime has always been an extremely good deal. Since it is amortized over 4 years, but only costs about the same as 2 years of monthly, it is effectively a 50% discount for 4 years. *And* it precludes any further revenue for TiVo on that unit, ever. I’ve always gone with lifetime, on five units so far, three of which I’ve resold. So I’m sorry to see it go, but I understand the reasons. If you’ve debated going lifetime, do it now! The value of lifetime should go up when it is no longer available.

I missed the first half-hour of the con call since I was in a meeting, but I’ll listen to it again as soon as the recording is up online.