Conference Details:
Twenty-Eighth Annual Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Strategic Decisions Conference 2012
New York, NY
Thursday, May 31, 2012
3:00 PM ET
Tom Rogers, President and CEO

Right now Charter has TiVo commercially available in Fort Worth, TX, and in trials in five additional markets. They’d previously stated that they planned to have a full TiVo launch enterprise wide in the first half of 2012. However, it looks like, while things are going well, they now expect to need a bit more time to reach that goal. On the call Charter EVP and Chief Financial Officer Christopher Winfrey stated, as transcribed by Seekinig Alpha:

Our four strategic priority for 2012 is to change the dynamic in our video business. We’ve deployed a version of the TiVo product in Fort Worth and are working with TiVo to field-test the product in several other markets with our employees. We don’t expect that testing will be completed in time for us to fully launch TiVo across the enterprise by the end of the second quarter as previously projected.

Later, during the Q&A, new President & CEO Thomas Rutledge stated:

And TiVo, I’ve always thought it was a fabulous user-interface, and I’m glad to see that Charter and TiVo have been working together to bring that user-interface to our customers and so, as we work through those issues, I’m excited by the way TiVo can present information to our customers.

Later, when asked directly about the push out in the timeline, EVP Technology and President Commercial Services Donald Detampel responded:

I can respond to that. So first of all, I just want to echo Tom’s words, I mean, we remained very committed to the TiVo platform. We believe that the experience it delivers to our customers is superior than anything we have in the market right now; so we remain very committed. In our particular that the integration of the TiVo platform into our platform, basically we had different VOD systems than TiVo had integrated in the past. So what we’re working through are some of those integration issues, but we had previously believed that through the first-half of this year that we’d be pretty well implemented across the enterprise. We now know based on our testing that we will require some further field testing, and we’re not going to deliver that product to our customers until we know it’s fully baked and right.

So it really sounds like the issue is just integrating the various VOD back end systems that Charter uses. Charter has multiple different VOD systems in different service territories. I believe they’re using SeaChange in Ft. Worth, which is a system TiVo has previous experience with at other MSOs. So Charter may be able to deploy TiVo in territories where they’re using systems already successfully integrated with TiVo, while adding more time to the schedule to complete integration and testing of different systems for other service areas.

Overall it sounds like Charter remains committed to TiVo, and these delays aren’t too surprising or unusual. Needing more time to fully polish a new integration effort isn’t exactly unheard of, and I’m sure both Charter & TiVo would rather take the time to get things right than to deploy a problematic system to customers. Perhaps the extra time will also mean Charter will launch in some markets with the Premiere Q & Preview instead of the base Premiere, which is used in Ft. Worth. Time will tell.

But this really wasn’t a surprise; it was mentioned before – by TiVo’s Director Product Marketing, Jason Wong. Quoting my earlier post:

He mentions “a couple of thin-client zapper boxes, with or without a tuner”, which is interesting, since the existing TiVo Preview does have a tuner and CableCARD slot. Perhaps TiVo is working on a more Roku-like streaming-only device? He does mention it again later, referring to it as a ‘thin-client’.

Later in the financial call, during the Q&A, Roger’s expanded upon the IP-based STB, saying:

It is a way for multiple sets in a household to be served. It works with a core unit, called a gateway unit, that allows for multiple streams to multiple television sets as part of a whole-home solution. It is something that we will be delivering to a number of operators who are looking for it in the middle of the year, so I’m not going to be precise with respect to which quarter we deliver it in. But it is an important part of our whole-home, multi-device set of solutions. We have a non-DVR set top today that we are deploying for operators who want to make sure that they have a cheaper multi-set solution so that they can have a non-DVR set top working out there, but this is a way to bring down cap-ex expense even further. And ultimately is a complement to the core TiVo unit.

The “current non-DVR set top” would be the TiVo Preview, so this unit is clearly a new box. And the lower cost reflects the removal of the tuner hardware. But note the bit about “deploying for operators”. Like the TiVo Preview, this unit is, initially at least, targeted at TiVo’s MSO customers – not retail.

This is also a product I discussed last Friday with TiVo’s Public Relations Manager, Jessica Loebig, and VP and GM of Product Marketing, Jim Denney, along with the transcoder box. They couldn’t provide too many details on the IP STB, but the gist is that this will be an IP-only, tuner-less streaming box. It is not a retail version of the TiVo Preview, as that unit has a CableCARD tuner. Rather, this would be an even ‘thinner’ thin client, which relies entirely on the network for content. My understanding is that, like the Preview, it would access OTT content directly from the Internet, as well as streaming content from a TiVo Premiere DVR within the home.

Live TV would also utilize a tuner from the central TiVo Premiere, there being no local tuner and all. That’s what I was hinting at in my transcoder box post when I said “As well as for another application that’s coming, but I’ll leave that for another post.”.

If TiVo could deliver this at a low enough price point, I think it could be an interesting entrant into the streaming STB market. TiVo would clearly need to beef up their third party content offerings to compete with the likes of Roku, Google TV, and Boxee, but that’s not out of reach if they promote their new SDK effectively. And TiVo’s MSO market offers a unique attraction for developers looking to address that market. If they offered this unit at retail it could leverage apps developed for the MSO market, and vice-versa.

But first TiVo would have to offer this at retail. I discussed this with Jessica & Jim, and they recognize that there is demand for such a product, and acknowledged that it’d certainly be a perfect companion for the Premiere Elite. But for now TiVo doesn’t have any plans to bring the TiVo Preview to retail. Currently they seem focused on polishing the products in the MSO market, which may not be a bad approach – as frustrating as it may be as a consumer who desperately wants one.

In the MSO market they have the MSO to support the customer and work out any issues. If they can improve the product in the MSO market, when they do finally bring it to retail it should be much more polished. The major concern seems to be the user experience, and potential network issues. MSOs deploying the TiVo Preview are insisting on MoCA or wired Ethernet with minimum performance for the installation. In the retail market you’d be much more likely to have people using iffy network connections – weak wireless or powerline connections, etc. And they’re more likely to blame TiVo if the product doesn’t work well than to recognize a network issue.

Personally I think TiVo could take an approach similar to what they planned for the Premiere Elite. Such as“vigorous customer and retailer education efforts designed to ensure that consumers recognize the capabilities” of the new box, and marketing the streaming box“primarily through its custom install, high-end retail, and TiVo.com channels” where they can better educate the customer on the requirements for successful utilization.

My impression is that TiVo is certainly aware of the retail demand for such a unit, and they’re constantly evaluating it, but they’re not yet ready to launch. But they probably will a little further down the road.

Oh, and going back to the SDK, I asked about that on our call last Friday as well. Right now TiVo doesn’t have much to say other than “stay tuned”, and to confirm that the new SDK environment is Adobe AIR with ActionScript 3.0, but they hint at other environments in the future.

On today’s call Tom Rogers stated that the transcoding box would ship “later this year”, which I believe is the first firm public statement.

From a technical perspective, based on my conversations with TiVo, the unit that comes to market will probably resemble the unit previewed at CES, but it may not be exactly the same. It is planned to be an Ethernet only device, most likely installed near the router in the home. It will stream content from TiVo Premiere units using the same system as the Premiere-to-Premiere Multi-Room Streaming (MRS) available today. The content will then be transcoded to H.264 and forwarded to devices running TiVo’s client app – such as Android or iOS phones and tablets. Users will be able to view the streams in real time, or they can be saved on the device for later viewing – which is how side-loading is accomplished.

The hardware itself is powered by Zenverge, so it looks like my prior speculation was close to the mark. However, the unit is not planned to have MoCA. I asked Jim Denney about this and he said that MoCA was considered, but given the envisioned use case it was felt that the added cost wasn’t justified. And after discussing it with him, I see his point. Even if the TiVo units are on MoCA, that MoCA network will need to be connected to a non-MoCA network to reach the client devices. And that connection point is a logical place to connect the transcoding box. It doesn’t really make sense to connect it to the MoCA network when it’d have to send the transcoded signal back over the same network to eventually be bridged off to the client network. Keeping the unit dirt simple – just a power connection and Ethernet – keeps it small and keeps the component costs down.

From a capability standpoint, the unit can accept and transcode up to four streams simultaneously. And on today’s call Rogers made the interesting comment that it could be a recording, or LiveTV. I believe the latter is new. Today streaming is only between units that have their own tuners, either Premiere-to-Premiere or Premiere-to-Preview, so there isn’t a need to grab a tuner on the remote device for ‘live’ TV. But for those who want to watch live on a second screen device, it’d be a necessity. (As well as for another application that’s coming, but I’ll leave that for another post. )

I asked about the streaming technology – is it based on Sling Media or Monsoon Multimedia, or anyone else? It is not. It is an in-house implementation using Zenverge’s silicon and developer tools. So it is unique, and the clients will come from TiVo. That gives me some hope. While Sling & Monsoon Multimedia treat their clients as a revenue stream, TiVo has been giving away their client software. And since you need a TiVo with an active subscription to use this transcoding box they have that revenue stream to draw upon. Rather than milking the customer for anther payment, I’m hopeful they will continue to provide the client software for free, relying on the sales of the hardware, and the TiVo subscription, for revenue.

If they do this it also makes me hopeful that they might publish the client APIs for 3rd parties to build support, as well as create clients for other platforms that aren’t Android or iOS. But that might be a bridge too far since I’m sure they’ll need to protect the content to keep the content owners happy, and that means they couldn’t tell others how to decrypt.

From my conversation with Jessica & Jim, the current plan is for streaming within the home, with side-loading for ‘on the go’ viewing. But not for place shifting streaming content outside of the home. Jim & I talked about this for a while, since I’m a long time Slingbox user and for me streaming beats side-loading hands down. He made the valid point that side-loading has some popular use cases – the most obvious is for when streaming isn’t an option, such as on an airplane. I know parents also use it to load up a bunch of their kids’ favorite shows to whip out on demand to pacify them, etc. So I’m not going to argue against side loading. It isn’t a use case that really interests me, but I acknowledge that it is valid.

As far as streaming outside of the home, Jim was sure to stress that it has not been “designed out” of the product. It isn’t currently planned, but it is something that could be added if there is demand. A lot of the concern is over quality of the experience, bandwidth requirements, etc. I made the point that I’ve been using a Slingbox since I had 768kbps upstream ADSL and only 2.5G EDGE data on my phone, giving me maybe 200kbps if I was lucky, and it was usable even with 320×240 resolution. And these days I have a 5Mbps uplink and 4G LTE on my phone, which has a 720p screen and HDMI output capabilities.

I’ve streamed HD video from my Slingbox PRO-HD from Worcester, MA to Seattle, WA and viewed it on my laptop while I’m out there for work. Being able to access my personal content at home, in real time, while I’m on the road just can’t be matched by side-loading. So I’m strongly in favor of TiVo enabling remote streaming as well. I argued that bandwidth costs continue to drop as speeds continue to increase, and device capabilities have never been greater. Now more than ever before streaming is viable.

I felt it was a good discussion and that TiVo is very much open to feedback on this issue. So it’d be good to hear from the user base. Do you want remote streaming? Or does local streaming and side-loading meet your needs?

No pricing or specific release dates are available at this time, so I can’t comment on that. But if they can bring this to market at a decent price point I think this would be very attractive, especially if they add remote streaming. By way of comparison, the DirecTV Nomad is $149, but you also need to subscribe to the Nomad Mobile DVR Service. My impression of this TiVo unit is that it is a one-time purchase, so it may retail for more than the Nomad. By while the Nomad is strictly store-and-forward side-loading, with real-time transcoding, the TiVo unit does streaming and side-loading, and it sounds like it will transcode for side-loading in better than real time.

I, for one, would be very interested in getting my hands on one of these units.

Deutsche Bank 2012 Media and Telecommunications Conference
Palm Beach, FL
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
1:40 PM ET
Tom Rogers, President and CEO
Webcast

Morgan Stanley 2012 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference
San Francisco, CA
Thursday, March 1, 2012
10:20 AM PT
Naveen Chopra, SVP, Corporate Development and Strategy
Webcast

* TiVo received compensation in the amount of approximately $105 million in initial litigation damages from EchoStar
* Net Income for the third quarter was $100.6 million compared to a loss of ($8.3) million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the EchoStar damages award net loss would have been ($0.9) million.
* Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $95.3 million, compared to $0.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the EchoStar damages award Adjusted EBITDA would have been $7.5 million.
* TiVo partners with Netflix to stream its library of over 12,000 videos directly to the TV
* Comcast announces roll out of TiVo service to additional markets
* TiVo extends distribution agreement with DIRECTV; TiVo is now partnered with three of the top five television distributors in the U.S.
* Partnership with Nero brings TiVo to the PC viewing experience

There are some other items that can be gleaned from TiVo’s statement. Back in September when TiVo announced their renewed DirecTV relationship it wasn’t clear just what form that relationship would take, but at the time I said:

The phrasing “a version of the TiVo service for DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform” makes me think that it will be similar to the platform developed for Comcast and Cox, software that can be loaded on the existing units. Since DirecTV doesn’t have an OCAP/tru2way-style platform, it would probably be a new software load which would replace the default system software.

And phrasing in today’s announcement makes me think so even more:

We also recently signed a new agreement with DIRECTV with which we’ve had a very successful history. With the new deal, DIRECTV will begin marketing a version of the TiVo service that is built on DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. This exciting new product will allow DIRECTV customers to select a TiVo DVR for use with all of DIRECTV’s high definition programming.

If they can deliver a software load to turn existing DirecTV HD DVR Plus models into TiVo boxes I think that’d be a big advantage. It would probably win back a lot of the former DirecTiVo user who gave in and got DirecTV’s DVRs to access HD content.

See the press release and trend sheet for all the gory details.

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) announced today that it will release financial results for the third quarter ended October 31, 2008 after the market closes on Tuesday, November 25, 2008.

TiVo will host a conference call and webcast to discuss its third quarter financial and operating results and guidance outlook for the fourth quarter at 2:00 pm P.T. (5:00 pm E.T.) on the same day. To listen to the discussion, please visit http://www.tivo.com/ir and click on the link provided for the webcast. The webcast will be archived and available through December 2, 2008.

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that it will present at the Kaufman Bros. 11th Annual Investor Conference on September 3rd. The webcast of the presentation will be available on the Investor Relations section of the TiVo website at http://investor.tivo.com under the events calendar tab.

Conference Details:
Kaufman Bros. 11th Annual Investor Conference
New York, NY
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
1:00 PM ET
Tom Rogers, CEO and President

- Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was $10.6 million compared to a loss of $(11.2) million in the year-ago quarter, exceeding guidance
- Net Income for the second quarter was $2.9 million compared to a loss of $(17.7) million in the year-ago quarter
- TiVo service on Comcast now available in Connecticut; Comcast will also continue to fund development work for the TiVo product to expand the feature set and add support for the Tru2way infrastructure
- TiVo and Entertainment Weekly join forces to connect TV viewers with their favorite shows on an automatic basis
- TiVo successfully launched in Australia by Seven Networks
- YouTube videos now available on the TiVo service; TiVo now provides access to more television and broadband content choices than any other offering in the world
- TiVo’s recent research deal with media marketing research firm TRA ties anonymous viewing behavior to product purchases in millions of homes; Significantly changing the quality of information available to marketers

TiVo is continuing to bleed subscribers, which was expected. With DirecTV continuing to push their in-house HR20/21 DVRs are upgrades for DirecTiVo users, even with additions from Comcast, Cox, and Cablevision Mexico, TiVo lost 136,000 net MSO/Broadcaster subscribers. And while TiVo added 36,000 gross TiVo-owned subscribers, they lost 78,000 gross TiVo-owned subs, for a net loss of 42,000 TiVo-owned subscribers. This is mainly due to legacy subscribers upgrading to HDTV and opting for cable or satellite DVRs. This leaves TiVo with 1.686 million TiVo-owned subscriptions and 3.623 total cumulative subscriptions.

This may sound bad, but it is also partly because TiVo has made massive cuts in their marketing efforts to focus on profitability instead of subscriber growth. For the quarter just ended their subscriber acquisition cost was only $135, a massive decrease from the $758 of a year ago, and only a slight up-tick from the $118 of last quarter. Instead of lots of marketing, subsidies, and rebates, which drive up SAC, TiVo is focusing on working with retailers and other vendors to bundle TiVo with HDTV purchases to capture those upgraders before they pick up another DVR. They’re also focusing on their partnerships with Cablevision Mexico, Comcast, Cox, and Seven Network in Australia.

And in that area things are looking good. The TiVo launch in Australia with Seven Network has been going well and TiVo is happy with it, though actual figures have not been released. And Comcast is finally ready to start a major marketing push and to announce more territories:

In regards to our mass distribution strategy, a top Comcast executive offered the following comments on the progress the TiVo on Comcast service has made to date: “We are pleased with the progress of the TiVo service and have broadened its footprint in our New England market to Connecticut. 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.”

Rogers stated, “Additionally, the TiVo service on Cox, which is currently in trials, is on track for a launch in Cox’s New England market later this year.”

“On the international front, Seven and TiVo successfully launched the TiVo service in Australia and because of the significant consumer demand there, retailers chose to release the product early. We are also extremely pleased with the marketing shoulder Seven is putting behind this launch as they’ve prominently featured TiVo in their marketing and programming including the Olympic opening ceremonies, their top rated morning show, and a special advertising spot they developed, which includes dozens of Australian celebrities. International distribution is an increasingly important component of our business model and there continues to be tremendous interest from international distributors for the TiVo offering.”

During the Q&A session when asked if Comcast had gotten to the point where they don’t require a truck roll for the TiVo software install, Rogers answered that that issue was a dependency on non-TiVo software and that Comcast was close to deploying the solution. It sounded like that was the gating factor for Comcast to launch the marketing effort, and that also helps explain Comcast’s satisfaction despite the delays, it doesn’t sound like it was TiVo’s problem.

During the Q&A session at the end of the call, Rogers once again mentioned a tru2way TiVo box, what the user community has started calling a ‘Series4′. He didn’t offer any specifics (unsurprisingly), but his feeling is that it will take more time for the industry to establish a national tru2way playing field to make it viable to release such a product. Personally I think that they may show something, prototype perhaps, at CES in January with the release for later in 2009 as most of the cable MSOs have pledged to have tru2way in place by July, 2009. Just my speculation.

You can get more information from TiVo’s release and key metrics.

ALVISO, Calif., Aug 13, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) announced today that it will release financial results for the second quarter ended July 31, 2008 after the market closes on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

TiVo will host a conference call and webcast to discuss its second quarter financial and operating results and guidance outlook for the third quarter at 2:00 pm P.T. (5:00 pm E.T.) on the same day. To listen to the discussion, please visit http://www.tivo.com/ir and click on the link provided for the webcast. The webcast will be archived and available through September 4, 2008.

I plan to listen in as usual.

Conference Details:
Collins Stewart 4th Annual Growth Conference
New York, NY
Thursday, July 10, 2008
11:00 AM ET
Tom Rogers, CEO and President

An overview:

- TiVo posts record quarter for Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA
- Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $11.1 million, exceeding guidance and compared to $6.7 million in the year-ago quarter
- Net Income for the first quarter was $3.6 million compared to $835 thousand in the year-ago quarter and EPS for the first quarter was $0.04 compared to $0.01 in the year-ago quarter
- Favorable ruling in EchoStar patent infringement case upheld; EchoStar’s petition for rehearing en banc denied
- Disney directly signs with TiVo making all the major movie studios’ content available to TiVo users
- TiVo teams with Chicago Tribune to reinvent newspaper model on TV coverage

You can get the full press release here.

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) announced today that it will release financial results for the first quarter ended April 30, 2008 after market close on Wednesday, May 28, 2008.

TiVo will also host a conference call and webcast to discuss the first quarter financial and operating results as well as guidance outlook for the current quarter at 2:00 pm PT (5:00 pm ET) on the same day. To listen to the discussion, please visit http://www.tivo.com/ir and click on the link provided for the webcast. The webcast will be archived and available through June 06, 2008.

I’ll cover it as usual.

On the hardware front Rogers again stressed that TiVo is focusing on the TiVo HD platform, and that the TiVo HD is effectively not subsidized on sales direct from TiVo.com, and only minimally subsidized at retail (basically the retailers cut). That’s a different direction for TiVo, which had in the past heavily subsidized the hardware. This is a major part of TiVo’s effort to become profitable, but reducing their marketing costs. (Subsidies fall under marketing.) He also said that producing their own hardware, as opposed to becoming strictly a software provider to Comcast, etc, helps to drive innovation. TiVo is able to bring features to their own platform much faster than other platforms, including their growing focus on broadband content. During the discussion Rogers mention that they’ll have several announcements in that area in the coming months.

Touching on the Comcast OCAP software, Rogers said“There are some minor bugs related to some speed issues that we’ll work out in the next few months.” We’ve seen reports on those issues from the users who have already received the TiVo software. He also said Comcast plans to roll out the TiVo software in ‘multiple’ markets throughout the US this year.

They spent some time discussing TiVo and DirecTV, but they really danced around the possibility of DirecTV returning to TiVo as their DVR provider. Rogers did seem to hint at the possibility, as he has done in the past, but nothing really concrete was said.

Speaking of TiVo and DirecTV, reader John Garrison pointed me at a new user petition to get DirecTV and Dish Network to open their networks to third party providers like TiVo. Right now it only has 36 signatures, I think it’ll need a few more before anyone pays attention. Personally I don’t think online petitions ever really accomplish anything. It is better for users to email, or better yet snail mail, DirecTV, Dish Network, and the FCC if they want to see things change. And, if you do, keep it polite and civil.

ALVISO, Calif., Feb 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) announced today that it will release fourth quarter and fiscal year ending January 31, 2008 financial results after market close on Wednesday, March 5, 2008.

TiVo will also host a conference call and webcast to discuss the fourth quarter and fiscal year end financial and operating results as well as guidance outlook for the current quarter at 2:00 pm PT (5:00 pm ET) on the same day. To listen to the discussion, please visit http://www.tivo.com/ir and click on the link provided for the webcast. The webcast will be archived and available through March 12, 2008.

ALVISO, Calif., Nov 29, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that it will present at the UBS 35th Annual Global Media & Communications Conference on December 3rd. The webcast of the presentation will be available on the Investor Relations section of the TiVo website at http://investor.tivo.com under the events calendar tab.

Conference Details:
UBS 35th Annual Global Media & Communications Conference
New York, NY
Monday, December 3, 2007
2:30 PM EST
Tom Rogers, CEO and President

• Adjusted EBITDA was $0.3 million, considerably ahead of guidance
• Net loss was ($8.2) million
• Goal of getting closer to Adjusted EBITDA breakeven for the year on track
• Announced relationship with NCTA and cable industry to enable cable operator installation and other support for TiVo standalone boxes
• Entered into strategic partnership with NBC to provide their advertisers with a comprehensive set of interactive advertising and audience research solutions
• Deal with Nero to bring the TiVo experience to the PC user
• Bolsters international presence with launch of TiVo service at retail in Canada

My business trip to Omaha got extended – instead of returning Monday night I’m here through Friday, perhaps longer – so I was at the customer site this afternoon and couldn’t listen in to the call live. I’ve just been able to listen to the recording back at my hotel. There are a few interesting items, aside from the previously announced SDV solution, NBC Universal deal, Carat deal, Nero partnership for PC software, and the move into the Canadian retail market.

In Tom Rogers’s presentation he stated that the Comcast up-charge for the TiVo software is $2.95/month, officially confirming what had been previously reported. And, as he said:“Our service on Comcast is now available in some non-employee subscriber homes, and full marketing efforts will begin shortly.” Comcast will also market the TiVo software through packaged bundles and ‘win back’ offers – which are specials designed to attract those who may have switched from cable to other services (FiOS, satellite, etc) back to cable. Rogers also touted Tivo’s deal with Windstream to market TiVo to their three million users.

He confirmed that the Nero deal will deliver TiVo’s “unique user interface” to PC users, which is a good sign. He also indicated that most of the sales for the PC product are expected to be outside the US.

TiVo seems to be confident that some resolution to the EchoStar lawsuit will be reached soon. Indications have been that EchoStar will seek a settlement ahead of the ruling on their appeal.“In terms of litigation, our case against EchoStar is moving closer to resolution. We were pleased with our presentation of oral arguments before the Court of Appeals and believe that our arguments were well presented on appeal.” The general feeling is that EchoStar will lose the appeal if it goes to a ruling, so they may wish to reach a more favorable settlement before their hand is forced.

Financially, TiVo blew away street estimates with a loss of only $.08 per share. Leading up to the report I’d seen estimates anywhere from $.11 to $.17 per share. TiVo added 69,000 gross TiVo-owned subscriptions in the quarter, with a net addition of 4,000 TiVo-owned subscriptions. TiVo lost 130,000 DirecTV subscribers in the quarter, which isn’t surprising as DirecTV has continued to roll-out their new MPEG4 HD channels, which require non-TiVo hardware. While the number of fully amortized lifetime subscribers continues to climb, to 190,000, so does the percentage of users paying recurring fees – now 60%. Total TiVo owned subscriptions now stand at 1.712 million, still slightly down from the peak of 1.727. And total subscriptions are 4.067 million, down from the peak of 4.444 million – though the Comcast roll-out should help slow, and perhaps reverse, that slide in the coming months. TiVo-owned subscriptions are worth much more to TiVo, with an Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of $9.04, while non-TiVo-owned subs have an ARPU of $.91.

There is some hope that relations with DirecTV might continue to improve, possibly bringing TiVo back as their DVR vendor. A settlement with EchoStar could conceivably extend as far as TiVo becoming the DVR provider for Dish Network, but I think it is more likely that EchoStar would simply license the patents.

On the cable front, TiVo seems to be getting quite chummy with the NCTA. In addition to the SDV solution and their new attitude toward OCAP on TiVo hardware, the cable industry has agreed to be involved in TiVo installations for CableCARD and the SDV Tuning Resolver. One of the biggest headaches for users of the TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD has been the pain of the CableCARD install. If this agreement truly does result in better training of cable installers, and better support for TiVo users, that will be a good thing indeed.

During the Q&A at the end of the call Rogers mentioned that Boston is Comcast’s largest market, so they’re launching TiVo in their largest market right from the start, which is a big deal. It does sound like Comcast will be making a big push on the TiVo software when they do finally make the general launch in Boston.

Overall it seemed to be a good call, but not many surprises or things we weren’t already aware of.

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO) announced today that it will release financial results for the third quarter ended October 31, 2007 after market close on Wednesday, November 28, 2007.

TiVo will also host a conference call and webcast to discuss the third quarter financial and operating results and guidance outlook for the current quarter at 2:00 pm PT (5:00 pm ET) on the same day. To listen to the discussion, please visit http://www.tivo.com/ir and click on the link provided for the webcast. The webcast will be archived and available through December 5, 2007.

The full release is here.