Xperi signs second TV maker for TiVo operating system

Executives at Xperi said on Tuesday that the company has signed a second television manufacturer for its TiVo operating system.

The announcement was made as part of Xperi's disclosure of quarterly earnings, the first since the brand split off its intellectual property and patent business into a separate company.

Xperi's Chief Executive Officer John Kirschner said the company's latest partner for TiVo OS is Shenzhen KTC Technology, which manufactures white-label smart TV sets that are shipped and sold by third parties.

"The KTC deal is not an express brand win, but it lays part of the infrastructure necessary to continue to accelerate what we're doing," Kirschner said. "We continue to be engaged very constructively with a number of others and will have more brands on board here in the next quarter or two."

Xperi revealed plans to make TiVo OS available to third-party smart TV manufacturers earlier this year. The company's first partner, Vestel, was announced during an earnings call in August; Vestel will integrate TiVo OS in smart TV sets sold in Europe.

On Tuesday, Kirschner didn't say when TiVo OS-powered smart TV sets will hit the market, but said there is strong interest from electronics manufacturers. Xperi has previously said the first TiVo-powered TVs are expected to start shipping in the first half of 2023

"They believe there is a demand for our solution and our platform," Kirschner affirmed. "It's up to us to connect the dots, as they would be doing turnkey manufacturing."

TiVo OS is different from the operating system that powers Xperi's first consumer streaming product, the TiVo Stream 4K. The $50 gadget was the first streaming-only device sold by the company known for its traditional set-top box digital video recorders, which have long bore the TiVo brand name.

Xperi didn't release information about the number of TiVo Stream 4K devices sold over the last quarter, nor did it indicate how many traditional TiVo DVRs were sold. But comments made on the conference call strongly suggested Xperi is focusing less on its consumer electronics as it builds out the operating side of the business.

To that point, Kirschner and Xperi Chief Financial Officer Robert Anderson revealed TiVo's Internet Protocol-based platform has experienced continued growth over the last few months, with Xperi reporting over 1 million subscribers of the IPTV business.

Xperi offers TiVo-powered turnkey solutions to cable and IPTV providers who want to offer customers a set-top box or streaming TV service powered by next-generation software. Xperi says TiVo's IPTV products can live within managed streaming gadgets like those powered by Android TV, or it can power apps that are downloaded to Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV devices.

A spokesperson for Xperi told Fierce Video that the 1 million subscriber figure mentioned during the earnings call was related to customers who use TiVo-powered IPTV solutions through a partner cable provider.

On Tuesday, Kirschner said the number of customers using TiVo's IPTV products was "meaningfully higher" than the number of customers who continue to pay for a subscription associated with a traditional TiVo box, which he said was "contributing a growth element to our pay TV business."

Overall, Xperi took in $121.6 million in revenue in the three-month period ending September 20, about $4 million more than it reported around this time last year, but lower than the $125 million estimated by Wall Street.

In addition to TiVo, Xperi develops audio, film and car-related technology under the DTS, IMAX Enhanced and HD Radio brands.

Article updated with additional information on TiVo IPTV subscribers.