TiVo Reports Their F3Q09 Financial Results

TiVo released their F3Q9 financial results today. They had their best quarter ever, thanks to the $104.6 million in damages paid by EchoStar. This gave them a net income of $100.6 million, without the award they would’ve suffered a net loss of $0.9 million, a big improvement from the loss of $8.3 million the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA was $95.3 million and would’ve been $7.5 million without the award, compared to $0.2 million a year ago. TiVo is on their way to delivering their first Adjusted EBITDA positive year. TiVo’s highlights:

* TiVo received compensation in the amount of approximately $105 million in initial litigation damages from EchoStar
* Net Income for the third quarter was $100.6 million compared to a loss of ($8.3) million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the EchoStar damages award net loss would have been ($0.9) million.
* Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $95.3 million, compared to $0.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the EchoStar damages award Adjusted EBITDA would have been $7.5 million.
* TiVo partners with Netflix to stream its library of over 12,000 videos directly to the TV
* Comcast announces roll out of TiVo service to additional markets
* TiVo extends distribution agreement with DIRECTV; TiVo is now partnered with three of the top five television distributors in the U.S.
* Partnership with Nero brings TiVo to the PC viewing experience

There are some other items that can be gleaned from TiVo’s statement. Back in September when TiVo announced their renewed DirecTV relationship it wasn’t clear just what form that relationship would take, but at the time I said:

The phrasing “a version of the TiVo service for DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform” makes me think that it will be similar to the platform developed for Comcast and Cox, software that can be loaded on the existing units. Since DirecTV doesn’t have an OCAP/tru2way-style platform, it would probably be a new software load which would replace the default system software.

And phrasing in today’s announcement makes me think so even more:

We also recently signed a new agreement with DIRECTV with which we’ve had a very successful history. With the new deal, DIRECTV will begin marketing a version of the TiVo service that is built on DIRECTV’s broadband-enabled HD DVR platform. This exciting new product will allow DIRECTV customers to select a TiVo DVR for use with all of DIRECTV’s high definition programming.

If they can deliver a software load to turn existing DirecTV HD DVR Plus models into TiVo boxes I think that’d be a big advantage. It would probably win back a lot of the former DirecTiVo user who gave in and got DirecTV’s DVRs to access HD content.

See the press release and trend sheet for all the gory details.