TiVo Records Quarterly Profit

By Jeff Malester On Sep 5 2005 - 6:00am

TiVo chalked up its first quarterly profit over its eight-year run in America's living rooms, as well as recorded a hefty increase in revenue for its fiscal second quarter.

Net income for the three months, ended July 31, came in at $240,000, or break-even per share, compared with a loss of $10.8 million in the year-ago period.

Service and technology revenue in the second quarter soared 46 percent, hitting $40.7 million, up from $27.8 million in the same period the prior year.

Total subscriptions for the quarter reached nearly 3.6 million, compared with 1.9 million at the same time in 2004.

TiVo-owned gross subscriptions were 77,000 in the second quarter, compared with 78,000 year-over-year. TiVo-owned net subscriptions were 40,000, down from 63,000 in the same three months a year ago.

The company's installed base of DirecTV subscriptions has risen to over 2.3 million in the second three months, up from 1.1 million in the second quarter last year. DirecTV accounted for 214,000 net new subscriptions in the quarter, compared with 225,000 last year.

“Driving growth in the number of subscriptions at TiVo is the biggest critical challenge we face,” said Tom Rogers, CEO. “Given the increasingly competitive environment, approaching this area more aggressively than we have in the past requires additional investment in subscription acquisition.” To this end, TiVo said it will be offering new promotional initiatives in the fall, one of which combines a hardware and service offer pointed at the holiday buying season.

For more details, see www.TWICE.com.