Suddenlink to Field TiVo Mini in Q1 to Expand Whole Home Service
Suddenlink will field the TiVo Mini in Q1 as means to expand whole home DVR service, CEO Jerald Kent said Friday on an earnings call. TiVo officials weren’t available for comment, but Suddenlink would be among the first cable operators to offer the product, which originally was to be available this fall.
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General Communications had been expected to deploy a whole home system, including the four-tuner TiVo Premiere Q gateway DVR, TiVo Mini and TiVo Stream. The non-DVR Mini allows streaming from the main TiVo DVR to TVs and other devices within the house and uses Multimedia over Coax for home networking and multi-room applications. “It will be a companion to the TiVo Premiere that provides an economical means for getting a whole home DVR solution,” Kent said.
Suddenlink was an early supporter of TiVo DVRs, introducing TiVo Stream in its Lubbock, Texas, market Oct. 8, Kent said. Stream, which launched in June, is a module that provides access to content across tablets and smartphones. DVRs were deployed with 47.1 percent of Suddenlink’s 832,600 digital subscribers by Sept. 30, Chief Operating Officer Thomas McMillin said. Suddenlink officials weren’t available for comment on how many of Suddenlink subscribers were TiVo customers. But Suddenlink added 13,800 DVR customers in Q3. Suddenlink ended Q3 with 1.37 million subscribers across Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia. TiVo is available in 80 percent of Suddenlink’s markets, Kent said.
Digital subscribers accounted for 67.7 percent of Suddenlink’s 1.23 million basic video customers, up from 58.4 percent a year earlier. Suddenlink’s basic video added 200 customers in Q3, reversing a loss of 5,900 a year earlier, and was in 40.4 percent of homes passed by the cable operator. Digital added 24,900 subscribers in Q3. About 96 percent of Suddenlink customers have access to HD services, including an average of 85 channels, up from 24 three years ago, company officials said. HD customers represented 67.8 percent of digital subscribers in Q3, up from 58.2 percent a year earlier. Suddenlink to Go online service delivered two million streams in Q3, company officials said.
Suddenlink added 17,400 customers to its high-speed broadband service, ending Q3 with 996,800, 70 percent of whom were getting 15 Mbps or better download speeds, company officials said. A little over two percent of the customers were subscribing for speeds of 30 Mbps and up, company officials said. Suddenlink also attracted 19,300 subscribers to its Suddenlink Wi-Fi service in Q3, McMillin said. Suddenlink ended its three-year, $300 million Project Imagine upgrade program on Sept. 30, boosting broadband speeds. About 15 percent of Suddenlink customers are triple-play subscribers to voice, data and video services, company officials said.
Suddenlink had a $22 million Q3 profit vs. a $5.1 million loss a year earlier as revenue increased to $511.9 million from $482.7 million. Video revenue grew to $276 million from $271.8 million, while that from high-speed Internet jumped to $140.3 million from $126.3 million. Suddenlink’s average revenue per user improved to $138.86 from $137.99 million a year ago. Suddenlink expects to complete the sale of the cable operator to BC Partners and the Canada Pension Plan this month for $6.6 billion. Kent is joining with BC Partner and the pension fund to buy equity in Suddenlink from Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Quadrangle and Oaktree Capital Management. The new owners are investing $1.98 billion in total equity and will assume $4 billion in net liabilities. Credit Suisse also agreed to supply a $500 million bridge loan.