Welcome to the broadband and cable news roundup, Hump Day edition.
TiVo Inc.'s cable strategy continues to make strides, as operator-related revenues rose 83 percent in the fourth quarter. But that segment remains a minor contributor overall, representing just $8.2 million, or about 9 percent, of the $88.9 million in TiVo's total fourth-quarter revenues, which were up 34 percent from the year-ago period. That still wasn't enough to avoid a fourth-quarter net loss of $15.8 million, compared to a year-ago profit of $7.2 million. TiVo added 222,000 net new subscribers via its service provider partnerships, extending that total to 2.12 million, while TiVo-owned customers dropped by 13,000, for a total of 1.03 million. Among MSOs, Virgin Media Inc. is TiVo's shining example, with the U.K.-based MSO adding almost 900,000 TiVo subscriptions in 2012, for a total of 1.3 million.
Still ahead for TiVo in 2013 is its pending cases with Motorola Mobility LLC, Cisco Systems Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. The Moto case is "nearing trial," TiVo CEO Tom Rodgers noted in the earnings release. The potential financial exposure to Arris Group Inc., which is in the process of buying Motorola's Home division for $2.35 billion, is capped at $50 million. Looking ahead, TiVo expects first-quarter revenue of $60 million to $62 million, down from the $67 million expected by Wall Street, alongside a net loss in the range of $16 million to $19 million. (See Arris's Exposure to TiVo Lawsuit Capped at $50M.)
The Tier 2/3 cable M&A frenzy continued this week as Telephone and Data Systems Inc. (TDS)agreed to acquireBaja Broadband for $267.5 million. Baja runs systems in pockets of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Utah serving 74,000 video subs and 212,000 homes passed. It generated revenues of $82.4 million in 2012. TDS, meanwhile, serves 7 million customers in 36 states via its U.S. Cellular Corp., TDS Telecom
and TDS Hosted & Managed Services business units.
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