TiVo 3Q Loss Grew Amid Costs To Add Subscribers


	For the quarter ended Oct. 31, the loss was $26.4M or 33¢ a share. TiVo added 419,000 subscribers in the quarter, many of them from DirectTV. There is speculation that DirectTV may drop TiVo in favor of another company also owned by News Corp. Read More >> One respected editor and blogger had further insights in regards to the TiVo news release sited here. Read More >>

TiVo 3Q Loss Grew Amid Costs To Add Subscribers

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
November 22, 2004 5:37 p.m.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- TiVo Inc. (TIVO) posted a wider net loss in the fiscal third quarter amid higher subscriber-acquisition spending, but subscribers for its television-programming service rose sharply.

For the quarter ended Oct. 31, the maker of digital video recorders late Monday reported a net loss of $26.4 million, or 33 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $7.4 million, or 11 cents a share.

TiVo said the steeper loss reflects its investment in "subscription-acquisition activities" to boost subscription growth during the fiscal year.

Revenue declined 11% to $38.3 million from $43.3 million as service revenue surged 73% to $27.7 million but technology revenue slumped 89% to $699,000 from $6.7 million.

TiVo said it added about 419,000 subscriptions during the latest quarter, more than twice the number it added a year earlier. Of the new subscriptions, about 316,000 were new subscriptions through the DirecTV (DTV) home-satellite system.

The company in August projected subscriptions would increase by 340,000 to 400,000.

While TiVo was a pioneer of the DVR technology, its market lead has eroded in the past couple of years as cable-TV operators and DirecTV's main satellite competitor, EchoStar Communications Corp. (DISH), have started offering alternative versions of the DVR technology. DVRs store television programming on a hard disk, allowing viewers to freeze live TV and record TV programs for later viewing.

As for the fiscal fourth quarter, TiVo projects service revenue of $32.5 million to $33.3 million. The company also expects to add 575,000 to 700,000 new subscriptions. In the year-earlier quarter, TiVo reported service revenue of $19.1 million and a 330,000 increase in total subscriptions.

The company reported its results after the market close. As of 4 p.m. EST in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading, shares of TiVo were down 12 cents, or 2% at $5.88.

In after-hours trading, TiVo 's shares were recently trading at $5.84, according to INET.

-By Mike Lucas, Dow Jones Newswires; 609-520-5829