New York -- Although TiVo is certainly getting more TV
playing time these days than its new spokesman, Tim Tebow, the company identifies
with his persona as a talented underdog, president and CEO Tom Rogers said.
Tebow, the New York Jets quarterback who's largely been
sidelined this season, is "a real underdog who performs when he gets out there... We identify with him," said Rogers, speaking at the fifth annual Multichannel
News/B&C OnScreen Media Summit here Thursday.
At the event, Rogers screened two of TiVo's new television
ads featuring Tebow chatting on a couch with precocious children. The spots
began airing this week.
After the cable industry "outright rejected TiVo" several
years ago and some had written off the company, "we've obviously turned that
around and proved it wrong," Rogers said.
TiVo now has deals with nine of the 21 biggest cable MSOs in
the United States, after recent wins with Cable One, Mediacom Communications
and Midcontinent Communications. Those join its roster of other partners
including Suddenlink Communications and Charter Communications.
