TiVo reported slightly smaller loss than expected by Wall St. in its first quarter ended April 30 and said it received patent covering “many of the key inventions” for its personal video recording (PVR) equipment and software. TiVo said its quarterly net loss more than doubled to $50.2 million from $23.4 million in year-ago period. It said revenue grew to $3.2 million from $499,000 year earlier as it added 35,000 new subscribers to its PVR service to reach 189,000. It said it now had more than 200,000 customers. Separately, TiVo said U.S. Patent & Trademark Office awarded company patent for such core PVR features as time- shifting programs, processing and synchronizing various multimedia streams in TV signal and storage format that supports pausing, fast-forwarding, rewinding, instant replays and slow motion. TiVo Chief Technology Officer James Barton said company, seeking fresh licensing revenue, would aggressively enforce its patent.
Adelphia plans to start offering video-on-demand (VoD) service on subscription basis in 2 markets, after signing programming deals with HBO, Showtime Networks and Starz Encore Group. Speaking at investors’ conference late last week, Jim Brown, vp-finance, said Adelphia would roll out subscription VoD service in Cleveland and western Pa. next month. He said Adelphia would offer service as part of its overall premium-channel package, instead of charging separate, extra fee for VoD, making it first major cable operator to do so. Such other MSOs as AOL Time Warner, Charter and Insight have been tinkering with charging additional fees for VoD services that also feature such personal video recorder (PVR) functions as fast-forward, stop, rewind and pause controls.
As expected, state regulators offered support while most competitors opposed Verizon’s request to offer long distance service to its small customer base in Conn. Only surprise in comments filed with FCC Mon. came from AT&T, which told agency it wouldn’t object to application as long as Verizon was held to its promise to maintain same rates, terms and conditions in Conn. as it offered in N.Y. state. Verizon serves only 2 communities in Conn., both using equipment located in N.Y. state, where carrier already has received Sec. 271 long distance approval from FCC.
In light of sweeping 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, ruling that municipalities had “very limited and proscribed” role in regulating telecom services (CD May 1 p7), Portland, Ore., is abandoning efforts to address issue of imposing franchise fees for cable modem services, city official said. Court had invalidated telecom ordinances of Auburn and more than dozen other Wash. cities on ground that federal law allowed “control over rights-of- way itself, not control over companies with facilities on rights- of-way.” City in Feb. had released draft telecom ordinance (CD Feb 7 p7) designed in part to stem loss of potential revenue from cable modem franchise fee following earlier 9th Circuit decision classifying cable-delivered Internet as telecom service. That was in response to incumbent cable provider AT&T’s insistence that it didn’t require telecom franchise for its high-speed Internet service in view of court ruling. Official said court in latest decision had held that federal law preempted requirements for fees unrelated to local cost of managing public rights-of-way, although city’s franchise process managed other aspects of how companies used rights-of-way. Cities are left in new world of telecom convergence without much guidance from federal law, he said, and although Portland “strongly disagreed” with court’s interpretation of federal law it didn’t want to get into costly litigation. “I imagine that cities in the 9th Circuit jurisdiction will give pause to proposals for new telecom regulations or laws,” official said.
ReplayTV signed long-term licensing agreement with Motorola to integrate former’s personal video recording (PVR) technology into Motorola’s digital cable set-top boxes, starting in fall. Under agreement, companies said, ReplayTV will be “a primary provider of core PVR software” for Motorola’s new advanced digital boxes, permitting cable subscribers to pause, rewind, fast-forward and record even live TV shows on their set-tops. Terms weren’t announced.
White House announced Fri. it intended to nominate 3 Washington insiders as FCC Commissioners: (1) Kevin Martin, FCC transition leader for President Bush and former aide to FCC Comr. Furchtgott-Roth. (2) Kathleen Abernathy, vp of startup network provider Broadband Office Communications, who is former U S West regulatory vp and one-time adviser to ex-FCC Comr. James Quello. (3) Mike Copps, who worked for Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) for 15 years before leaving Hill in 1980s to work in private industry and finally Commerce Dept. in international trade area. Formal nomination won’t happen for several weeks while paperwork is prepared and security clearances completed. After that comes Senate confirmation process.
WideOpenWest signed deal with DemandVideo to offer latter’s video-on-demand (VoD) service in markets where it’s building competitive cable systems. Using DemandVideo’s VoD technology and service, WideOpenWest said it would offer subscribers choice of recent Hollywood movies, classic films, children’s and family programming and instructional shows. Customers will have 24 hours of unlimited viewing of any title they select and will be able to pause, play, rewind, fast-forward or restart titles. Cable overbuilder announced deal Wed., day after concluding 3-year pact with Source Media to use latter’s interactive program guide and local programming service. WideOpenWest said it planned to start offering 2 services first in Denver area in March.