Comcast to Launch TiVo in New England
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 6/4/2007
Comcast is set to commercially launch TiVo digital-video recorders in Boston and other New England markets in August, about a year later than originally planned.
TiVo CEO Tom Rogers outlined the rollout plans on a conference call with investors last week. Comcast confirmed the markets and launch time frame.
The trials with Comcast “are progressing well and will include limited deployment between now and the early summer,” Rogers said. The operator's TiVo trials are planned for commercial launch for August in parts of the operator's New England division, including metro Boston, Southeast Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Comcast, which signed the agreement with the DVR maker in March 2005, previously expected to have TiVo-based DVRs deployed in a majority of its markets by the end of 2006.
Through Jan. 31, Comcast spent $16.2 million on development costs associated with the project, according to TiVo's 10-K annual report. Under the terms of the deal, set to run at least through 2012, Comcast will pay a recurring monthly fee to TiVo for every subscriber who opts for the service.
Rogers also said TiVo's work with Cox Communications, the second U.S. operator it has a distribution agreement with, “is progressing well and it continues to be our expectation that Cox would roll out toward the end of the year.”
For the quarter ended April 30, TiVo reported net income of $835,000 on revenue of $60.4 million, compared with a net loss of $10.7 million and $56.8 million for the same period a year ago.
