Originally published February 12 2006
TiVo facing tough times
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
TiVo was unusually quiet at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, and may face a bleak future due to rival boxes that cost less but offer the same features. Additionally, TiVo's relationship with DirecTV is set to end next year.
TiVo Inc., the digital video recorder pioneer, made headlines a year ago in vowing to take TV to the next level with support for high-definition video, software that can sling shows outside the box and a plan to pipe movies over the Internet.
But at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the company was unusually quiet despite the event's major focus on big changes in how TV is distributed and watched --- something TiVo helped start but from which it hasn't consistently profited.
Fact is, rival set-top boxes often cost less but offer the same features that made TiVo a household name.
"The standalone TiVo boxes now are facing a real challenge from the DVRs offered by cable and satellite operators," said Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research.
"As a result, they have to pull back and look at who it is they are and who it is they're going after."
In late November, Tivo reported a fiscal third-quarter loss of $14.2 million on sales of $49.6 million but predicted the red ink in the current quarter would be between $17 million and $22 million.
It has reported only one profitable quarter in its history.
The company's biggest source of new subscribers, a long-running relationship with DirecTV, is set to end next year as the satellite TV company switches to a different DVR platform.
The DirecTV relationship brought in 379,000 of TiVo's 434,000 new subscribers in the fiscal third quarter.
In all, TiVo has slightly more than 4 million subscribers.
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