Two months after ending its four-year battle with Comcast to make the No. 1 U.S. cable operator pay it patent fees for tech tied to its X1 video platform, TiVo has announced an IP licensing deal with Cox Communications, which licenses X1 from Comcast.
“Our patent license renewal with Cox Communications further confirms the substantial relevance and value of TiVo’s intellectual property portfolios, particularly in the U.S. pay-TV market,” said Samir Armaly, president of intellectual property for TiVo parent company Xperi, in a press release.
Also read: With Comcast Suit Settled, TiVo Sets Sights on Canada
Cox is the largest privately held telecommunications company in America, and it controlled just over 3.7 million pay TV subscriptions as of the end of September.
Cox said way back in May 2018 that 1 million of those TV customers had converted to Contour TV, a platform based on Comcast’s blueprint for the X1 video system. That was the last customer benchmark on Contour released by Cox.
Speaking to Next TV right after announcing the Comcast deal, Armaly said putting X1 licensees next on TiVo’s list. Notably, there’s three more such cable operators in Canada: Rogers Communications and Videotron. (TiVo signed a renewal with Shaw Communications in 2019.)
“Canada is certainly an opportunity that we’re excited to have,” Armaly said.
TiVo was purchased last year by San Diego tech company Xperi, creating an IP licensing powerhouse of more than 10,000 patents and patent applications.
