TiVo expanding entertainment options
November 11, 2019
By Chris Forrester
TiVo is set to expand the functionality of its TiVo+ platform which launched last month. “There is an opportunity to expand the base of consumers using the TiVo experience, and then to generate income from their engagement with real‐time/live TV, subscription video on demand services and the emerging digital entertainment channels and shows,” CEO Dave Schull told analysts.
“TiVo+ delivers live streaming channels and thousands, thousands of movies and TV shows to viewers in an app‐free environment, making them easy to find, watch, and enjoy. TiVo+ provides access to internet‐based content for TiVo customers, translating into opportunities for advertisers to reach highly engaged television audiences. TiVo+ will continue to roll out to more of our customers over the next several weeks and will continue to add more premium content from well‐known publishers in the coming months and on an ongoing basis,” Schull added.
He told analysts that TiVo now had 7 North American operators using the Android version of TiVo. “In the quarter, Liberty Latin America selected TiVo to bring cutting‐edge innovations to its video customers in Puerto Rico, and they plan to launch the TiVo platform in other markets across Latin America as well,” said Schull.
Schull was speaking following the company’s Q3 results which reported revenues of $158.52 million in Q3 vs. $164.71 million in the same period last year.
He spoke about the various legal battles over patent rights, in particular those concerning Comcast. “TiVo is fully committed to protecting its intellectual property from unauthorised use and we are committed to our litigation strategy. We expect Comcast will eventually pay a license for our innovations, just as its pay‐TV peer companies do and as Comcast itself has done in the past. On that front, we are pursuing cases in the ITC and the District Court system. The ITC extended its time to issue its final determination in the second ITC case to December 16th. The third ITC case will be held from January 17th to the 21st of 2020. The Administrative Law Judge’s initial determination for the third ITC case is due by June 29th, 2020 and the Commission’s final determination is due by October 29th, 2020.”
TiVo says that the division of the company into a ‘Patents’ business, as well as the traditional Product/DVR business, is likely to happen around April 2020.