Cable Rings TiVo’s Register

TiVo is steadily pocketing more dollars from cable operators — although its declining retail subscriber base still brings in more than three times the recurring revenue.

The digital video recorder company posted an 83% jump in provider-related service revenue for the quarter that ended Jan. 31 to $8.2 million, compared with $27.4 million in service revenue from TiVo-owned subs.

Overall, TiVo posted revenue of $88.9 million, up 34% from $66.5 million in 2012’s fiscal fourth quarter. The company reported a net loss of $15.8 million versus net income of $7.2 million in the year-earlier period, which included payments from the patent-litigation settlement with AT&T.

TiVo’s biggest cable benefactor by far remains Virgin Media. Last year, the U.K. operator netted nearly 900,000 TiVo subs to reach a total of 1.3 million, or 35% of its video-subscriber base. By comparison, for the 12 months ended Jan. 31, TiVo added a net 950,000 subs through all operators.

Asked what Liberty Global’s bid to acquire Virgin Media, announced Feb. 5, would mean for TiVo, president and CEO Tom Rogers spun it as a chance to win business with LGI. “Liberty, as I’ve made clear, is well aware of the success that Virgin has had with TiVo,” he said on TiVo’s earnings call last week.

In the U.S., service-provider customers include Suddenlink Communications — which had its biggest quarter to date with TiVo deployments, according to Rogers — as well as Mediacom Communications, RCN and GCI.

MSO-related hardware revenue climbed 45% in the most recent quarter, to $16.8 million, which represented 73% of TiVo’s total hardware sales.

On the litigation front, TiVo’s case against Motorola Mobility, which is in the midst of being acquired by Arris Group, is nearing trial, Rogers said. The company also has litigation pending against Time Warner Cable and Cisco Systems. TiVo has settled patent lawsuits with Dish Network, AT&T and Verizon Communications for more than $1 billion.