Comcast's TiVo Tab to Date: $16M
Still No TiVo-Enabled DVR Service for Cable Operator
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/16/2007 4:59:00 PM
Through Jan. 31, Comcast has footed $16.2 million in development costs on a version of TiVo’s digital-video-recorder software for its set-tops and systems, according to a TiVo regulatory filing.
The cable operator has yet to commercially launch a TiVo-enabled DVR service more than two years after inking a pact with TiVo in March 2005. Comcast -- which demonstrated TiVo’s software running on Motorola set-top boxes in January -- originally expected to have TiVo-based DVRs deployed in a majority of markets by the end of 2006.
The two companies now are targeting commercial rollout by June 30, according to TiVo’s 10-K annual report filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Comcast senior director of corporate communications Jenni Moyer said the operator is on track to launch a “market trial” this spring with TiVo in an unspecified market, with a broader rollout in the second half of the year.
TiVo’s deal with DirecTV, meanwhile, contributed $26 million in revenue for the year ended Jan. 31, representing 10% of the DVR company’s revenue. TiVo said it has about 2.7 million subscriptions through the direct-broadcast satellite operator, accounting for 61% of TiVo’s overall subscriber base of 4.4 million.
In the filing, TiVo noted that its cost of service and technology revenues for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 increased by $25.2 million, or 72% compared with the previous fiscal year, primarily as a result of $16.2 million in technology costs related to Comcast. The costs for the Comcast project were offset by $16.2 million in revenues TiVo recognized from the MSO for licensing and engineering work.
Comcast will pay a recurring monthly fee for every subscriber who receives the TiVo service through the operator under the terms of the deal, which is set to run at least through 2012.
Still in the pipeline from TiVo is an advertising-management system for deployment on Comcast platforms, which will deliver local and national advertising sold by TiVo to Comcast subscribers. That system is targeted to begin no later than February 15, 2008, according to TiVo.
Comcast “will continue to pay us fees for engineering services for the development and integration of the TiVo service-software solution (subject to adjustment under certain circumstances) and will also pay us for the advertising-management system,” TiVo said in the filing.
Last August, TiVo signed a similar deal with Cox Communications. In its annual report, the DVR maker said that as of Jan. 31, it hadn’t yet begun to recognize revenues or expenses under that agreement. TiVo is also developing an advertising-management system for Cox.
