Signaling a greater emphasis on MVPD partnerships and a reduced focus on its retail strategy, TiVo is pushing ahead on a restructuring and reorganization that will affect about 50 full-time employees and a number of contractors.
“Our priorities are North American MSO growth, International expansion and consumer innovation that can take the company beyond the domain of the traditional DVR,” Naveen Chopra, TiVo’s chief financial officer and interim CEO, told employees Monday (February 29) in a memo obtained by Multichannel News.
Chopra noted that Cubiware, a middleware provider that TiVo acquired last year that will help the company expand into more international markets, and Digitalsmiths, a video recommendation and analytics unit that TiVo bought in 2014, “will be critical ingredients in pursuing these priorities.”
“As part of ensuring we are optimally positioned to succeed in these areas, today we made the difficult decision to eliminate roles filled by about 50 full-time TiVo employees and some contractors,” he continued. “While it is never easy to say farewell to colleagues and friends who have made major contributions to the company, these decisions will enhance our growth and performance going forward. We are sincerely grateful for the collective contribution of those who will be leaving us and we will fully respect and support their future endeavors.
Word of the restructuring comes about a month after Chopra was named TiVo’s interim CEO. Tom Rogers, TiVo’s long-time CEO, stepped down from that role last month, but is remaining with TiVo as non-executive chairman of the board.
Since taking on the interim CEO role, Chopra said in the memo that he’s been setting priorities for TiVo, and “matching our talent with our most promising growth opportunities.”
Most of TiVo’s growth has come from MSO partnerships. The company ended its fiscal Q3 with 6.46 million subscribers, a figure that included 5.51 million coming way of TiVo's partnerships with MVPDs. TiVo's MSO partners include Virgin Media, ONO, RCN Corp., Mediacom Communications, Suddenlink Communications, Buckeye CableSystem, Atlantic Broadband, Cogeco, Armstrong, Grande Communications, and GCI, among others.
“Although we will be losing some loyal colleagues, I am incredibly excited about what we can achieve following these restructuring moves,” Chopra wrote. “We will be speeding up, not slowing down. We will be challenging many of you with new, bigger, broader responsibilities. And most importantly, we will be building a nimbler, more profitable TiVo that is better equipped to innovate and grow."
TiVo is expected to discuss the changes in more detail when the company reports Q4 results on Tuesday (March 1).
Though TiVo is placing a greater emphasis on North American MSO growth and international expansion, it isn't abandoning the retail market, a company official said.
TiVo, for example, will continue to support and bring new features to products such as the new 4K-capable Bolt device and its Roamio DVR family. The company, Multichannel News has learned, is also expected to introduce some new retail-focused products later this year that are not traditional DVRs.
