TiVo announces Q1 profit, Series 3 Lite, Comcast Motorola TiCo, and expansion to Oz

Things are looking good for TiVo this morning after posting their Q1 financials. According to some, this is their "first-ever quarterly profit." However, we seem to recall a time back in 2005 when the quarter ending July 31st was supposed to be their first ever quarterly profit. Whatever, the real news comes in the form of the Series 3 Lite -- a "lower priced" HD offering targeting a wider audience when it's released sometime "later this year." Right, the same box we heard about back in March. Also announced was the August commercial launch of the Comcast Motorola TiVo -- no, really -- initially rolling out in the New England division meaning Boston and vicinity will have first dibs. The final bit of news is the launch of TiVo products in Australia and New Zealand under the Helm of Seven, Australian's leading broadcast company. A good day (G'day?) indeed.

Read -- Series 3 Lite, Comcast Motrola Tivo, Seven deal
Read -- "First ever" quarterly profit
Read -- The first ever quarterly profit (2005)

[Ozbone @ May 31st 2007 10:14AM]

Profit or no, there's no way I'd buy stock in TiVo - and I have two lifetime S2s. I'm just waiting for someone else to come up with a nice HD at a reasonable price without the now ridiculous fees.

[Aaron @ May 31st 2007 10:44AM]

Everything is a cost/value decision. For many, including me, the added cost of the S3 is more than worth it as there is simply no better HD DVR on the market...period.

At least now the upfront cost of the S3 is much more reasonable at about $400 AR on Amazon. The monthly fees are steep unless you have an additional box and then are comparable to cable rental charges for DVRs (as then they are only $6.95/mo). The cable cards are basically free with Comcast as they only charge $1.91 for two cable cards without any recuring fees (http://www.comcast.com/Customers/FAQ/FaqDetails.ashx?Id=2651).

[Frankenstein Black @ May 31st 2007 11:16AM]

Hey DirecTV please rekindle that long lost love a fare with Tivo, please. It’s the only device that has the tech to allow you to compete with the cable company’s On-Demand services. Please get over you differences and “get back in the sack together” to make a Series 3 HD available for SAT subs. Oh, and lighten up on that compression will ya?!

PS We know that you’ve been promising an azz load of HD channels by the end of the year (we hope) but what good is that if there isn’t an Uber HD-DVR on the receive side? Its like dropping a Hugo engine in an Enzo (look fast, but goes no where). PLEASE MAKE A TIVO SERIES 3 SATELLITE HD-DVR HAPPEN! The old HR10-250 (if you can find one) just doesn’t cut it anymore ;^(...

[BillyBob @ May 31st 2007 11:47AM]

Tivo should have sold out to DirecTV years ago - now it's too late - they are in a death spiral. Once upon a time they owned the DVR market. But now, the number of customers willing to pay for cable/satellite HD content AND pay extra for Tivo service instead of just using the DVR provided by the cable/satellite provider is very small and shrinking. There only hope was ALWAYS to be an OEM for cable/satellite box providers - and they let that pass them by. Working with Comcast now is too little, too late - in the end lower priced generic units will win.

[Siva @ May 31st 2007 11:58AM]

I don't like paying for TV. I get OTA-HD and no monthly fees. I have a Sony DHG-HDD250. While I am sure the UI and stability is not as good as the Tivo, it has worked great for the past 19 months that I have owned it. And, did I mention no fees whatsoever.

[AA @ May 31st 2007 1:14PM]

My DVR is a three-in-one Pioneer 530HS (a HDD/DVD and pictbrige photo viewer) is all I need-no TiVO for me (as I record cable-Austar shows).

[david @ May 31st 2007 1:14PM]

DirecTV called me a few months ago to do a survey on their HD-DVR. I slammed it for the poor interface, poor playback, and that it was a pain in the ass. I told him to start using TIVO again and that I wouldn't get another DirecTV DVR when the contract was up next year.

[LCD1080 @ Jun 1st 2007 12:45PM]

I just bought an S3 TIVO for under 400 dollars. The monthly fee for the TIVO service and the cable cards comes to $11. That's less than the $12 a month that I used to pay Comcast for their DVR box.