Tivo: Not Much Of A Business

Tivo (TIVO) was, at one point, the next big thing. Recording and time shifting TV programs. Watch them when you want to. Not VCR required.

In the last quarter, TIVO has revenue of only $62.7 million. The DVR business has destroyed the TIVO growth opportunity and now the company is close to irrelevant.

TIVO added 136,000 new subscribers in the quarter. DirecTV (DTV) is not selling TIVO to its customers any more. Comcast (CMCSA) will start marketing a TIVO product later in the year.

According to USA Today: "TiVo’s failure to anticipate how quickly consumers and retailers would fall in love with HDTV products added static to a fuzzy financial picture." A very good point from MacPaper.

With its stock down from almost $13 in March 2004 to just above $6 now, TIVO is now roadkill on the high tech super highway.

Douglas A. McIntyre