TiVo Inc. (
TIVO
)
recently announced a partnership with Alaska-based cable operator
General Communications Inc. (
GNCMA
)
. Under the terms of the agreement, General Communications will use
TiVo's solutions to power its next generation home television
offerings.
General Communications home television offering will include
TiVo's four-tuner Digital-video-recorder (DVR) Premiere Q, TiVo
Mini IP set-top boxes and TiVo stream. Going forward, General
Communications will integrate TiVo's technology along with Pace's
XG1 gateway that includes DOCSIS and transcoding features.
The deployment is scheduled to start by the end of this year and
the integrated platform will be available to General Communications
subscribers at the start of 2013. Post rollout, General
Communications expects to offer linear cable television services
that will be integrated with on-demand and broadband video content
through the TiVo interface.
TiVo has been focusing on partnerships and strategic alliances
to drive subscriber growth. TiVo has a number of partnerships with
major companies including
Comcast Corp. (
CMCSA
)
, Charter Communications, RCN, and Suddenlink. TiVo also expanded
its services globally through partnerships with ONO,
Virgin Media Inc. (
VMED
)
and Canal Digital (in Scandinavia).
In the first half of 2012, TiVo entered into a partnership with
Pace, a leading developer of technologies and services for the
broadcast and broadband industries. TiVo also signed an agreement
with Sweden's largest cable operator Com Hem. Furthermore, TiVo
extended its partnership with Ono, Spain's largest cable
operator.
Although General Communications has a much smaller subscriber
base compared to these large cable operators, we believe its
dominating position in Alaska will boost TiVo's market share going
forward. We believe that TiVo will continue to pursue opportunities
for developing strategic partnerships with cable operators both in
the domestic as well as international markets in order to boost its
subscriber base going forward.
We believe that these partnerships will also help in reducing
competition over the long term. However, pending patent litigation
issues, rising subscription acquisition costs and higher research
and development (R&D) expenses are expected to impact TiVo's
profitability over the next few quarters.
Thus, we have a Neutral recommendation on TiVo over the long
term (6-12 months). Currently, TiVo has a Zacks #3 Rank, which
implies a Hold rating for the short term (1-3 months).
COMCAST CORP A (CMCSA): Free Stock Analysis
Report
GENL COMMS INC (GNCMA): Free Stock Analysis
Report
TIVO INC (TIVO): Free Stock Analysis Report
VIRGIN MEDIA (VMED): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment
Research