• by Wayne Friedman , February 27, 2013

TiVo posted a big net loss in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2013 compared to a year ago, when the company won a financial settlement from AT&T.

The digital video recorder/audience measuring company had a net loss of $15.8 million versus a net profit of $7.2 million. Revenues climbed to nearly $89 million from $66.5 million. In its service and technology area, the company's $65.7 million revenues were the highest in TiVo's history.

This was higher than company expectations of $65 million and up more than $50 million for the same quarter last year. Looking at just cable operator deals alone, TiVo says there was an 83% increase in revenue.

Midday Wednesday trading of TiVo's stock was up 2.7% to $12.75.

Net losses will continue around the same level for the first period of its new fiscal year -- $16 million to $19 million -- but the company expects that positive litigation results will shift the company into profitability later in the year. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, TiVo anticipates service and technology revenues in the range of $60 million to $62 million.

On the upside, TiVo says it has gained in total consumer subscriptions, now over 3 million. This is nearly a 40% gain over fiscal-year 2012. In the latest quarter, TiVo added a net 209,000 subscribers, compared with the 234,000 subscribers it gained a year earlier.

TiVo also claims that new U.S. and international deals with TV distributors will show financial gains. New audience measuring business will also move forward, from TiVo's TRA unit (TiVo Research & Analytics) called TRA Crossmedia Measurement, in which television, Internet and purchase data are together in a single-source offering.

While TiVo has mostly posted losses for the last four years, the company has seen positive results for its legal spending, with positive settlements from EchoStar, Dish Network and Verizon Communications. The year-ago period included $54.4 million of litigation proceeds from the AT&T settlement.

TiVo has placed less emphasis on set-top boxes retail sales and distribution of its products/services through cable operators' set-top boxes or through TVs. All have helped boost subscriber growth.

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