Virgin up on TiVo customers

Nearly one-fifth of UK cableco Virgin Media’s TV customers now have the next-generation TiVo-powered set-top boxes it launched just over a year ago with the US time-shift specialist.

Virgin today said it added 242,000 Tivo customers during the three months to March 31 this year, giving it a total of 677,100, or 18% of its TV customer base.

The figure exceeds the proportion of households on Virgin’s free tier, which stands at 17%, with 50,600 paying TV customers added in the quarter. The majority of these were existing Virgin homes that upgraded. The firm brought 21,200 new customers onboard in Q1 2012 but with a total of 3,775,300 TV customers it had 13,600 fewer than at the same point last year.

The UK’s number two pay-TV provider reported Q1 revenue up 2.4% to £1bn (US$1.6bn). Operating income increased 18% to £130.9m and quarterly net income rose from £3.3m a year earlier to £7m.

“In the first quarter of 2012 we’ve made steady progress against our strategy. Demand for superfast broadband and TiVo, the UK’s first mass-market connected TV service, continued to gather momentum,” said Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett.

“Over the remainder of 2012, we expect continued steady progress across the company, which, combined with the underlying resilience of our business model, will translate into strong cash flow and shareholder returns.”

Earlier this month Virgin pulled an advert for its TiVo boxes starring former Doctor Who star David Tennant following complaints from BBC Worldwide.