Just over 18 months after it outbid Amino to acquire bankrupt IPTV managed services provider MobiTV for $18.5 million, Xperi has contracted the UK video tech company to provide its Android operator tier set-tops for the platform. 

Now branded as "TiVo Managed IPTV," the platform will deploy Amino's Amigo 7X set-tops, which provide UHD resolution, High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing including HDR10 and HLG, and Bluetooth connectivity, among other features. (A full Amino spec sheet can be found here.)

TiVo Managed IPTV allows cable operators and other pay TV operators a way to flexibly and inexpensively deliver popular app-based OTT services to their customers 

The integrated solution is backed by Amino’s  SaaS platform, Amino Engage, for centralized device management, combined with the company's customer support and maintenance services.

 “The TiVo Managed IPTV Service continues to be a popular option for tier II and III operators because of its fully featured, end-to-end capabilities. So it makes sense that we’d integrate our managed Amigo 7X set-top to provide operators best-of-breed options when launching new video services,” said Donald McGarva, CEO of the Amino Group. 

Amino announced the deal from CES 2023 in Las Vegas. 

Demand for electronics, already accentuated by a pandemic that had all of us relying on internet protocol devices even more, is set to further explode. Recent survey results from equity research company Cowen found 43% of U.S. consumers plan to purchase a new smartphone this year, up from 30% in 2020. 

As for connected TV devices, they’re already coming off a record fourth quarter, with shipments increasing by 7.6% to 305.3 million.

Looming over this prosperity is a global shortage in the supply of semiconductors that has already brought the auto industry to its knees and has drawn a 100-day review by the Biden administration. 

Hamstrung by a shortage of chips that control everything from in-car entertainment systems to power steering sensors, U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford said in February the semiconductor scarcity could cut into their full-2021 earnings by as much as $2 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively. 

Global semiconductor sales totaled $439 billion in 2020, up 5% over 2019, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Sales for December alone were up 8.3% to over $39 billion.

Manufacturing hasn’t been able to keep up with demand. Semiconductor companies Intel, Nvidia and Taiwan’s TCSM say the problem could persist past 2022. 

The streaming video industry hasn’t reported feeling the impact yet — there wasn’t a single reference to the scarcity of semiconductors in the Q4 earnings reports of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Roku or Xperi. 

But as these publicly traded companies get ready to queue up their Q1 earnings, the check’s probably in the mail. 

Donald McGarva, CEO of U.K.-based pay TV set-top tech company Amino Technologies, said lead times for chipset orders have grown by as much as six months. 

“Of course, fluctuations in the chipset market have happened before, and Amino always works hard to mitigate customer impact,” McGarva said in a statement. “This time, we took early management action to secure stock, increase inventory holdings, build buffer stock and forecast additional kitting and assemblies, all to ensure that our supply chain is operating with the best possible lead times.”

The cable and telecom industry weighed in on the issue earlier,  as the Biden administration had already convened its review of the cable and telecom industry.

ISPs Want to Be Heard

“We urge you to include broadband providers in measures to address the chip shortage, support initiatives that will expand domestic innovation and investment in semiconductor development and manufacturing facilities for all industries and ensure coordination across government and with industry partners on supply chain matters,” read a joint letter sent from trade groups NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, ACA Connects, CTIA-The Wireless Association and USTelecom.

TiVo has emerged as the winning bidder for bankrupt IPTV solutions provider MobiTV, paying $18.5 million to beat out a competitive joint bid from Amino Technologies and Roku over the course of a two-day auction process.

Emeryville, Calif.-based MobiTV represented a competitor for TiVo in the market for delivering IPTV solutions to cable companies. 

TiVo's bid, which included $17.4 million in cash, usurped the combination of a joint $18 million bid that included $5 million sub bid by Roku and patent company RPX for MobiTV's intellectual property assets; and a $13 million bid by UK-based Amino for the broader "going concern" portion of MobiTV's business.  

TiVo's acquisition must first be approved by the Delaware court overseeing MobiTV's Chapter 11 restructuring, but TiVo parent company Xperi believes the transaction will be closed by June. 

The Amino/Roku/RPX joint bid is now considered a "backup bid."

MobiTV provides turnkey app-based video distribution technology to small and midsized pay TV operators, mainly cable companies, with clients ranging from bigger concerns, including T-Mobile and Cable One, to the tiny cable operators represented by the National Cable TV Cooperative. 

MobiTV entered bankruptcy in early March, reporting liabilities of $79 million vs. only $19 million in assets. T-Mobile, which used MobiTV tech in its recently launched and quickly scuttled TVision virtual pay TV platform, provided MobiTV with $15.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing to keep going amid its Chapter 11 process.

TiVo was purchased nearly two years ago by Xperi in a deal valued at $3 million Los Angeles-based Xperi is vested in sectors including in-car entertainment.  

In a statement released following the successful winning bid, Xperi said, "The MobiTV solution provides an attractive extension of TiVo’s IPTV Pay-TV service offerings by adding managed services with the ability to reduce deployment time and onboarding costs. MobiTV will help increase TiVo’s IPTV penetration with U.S. pay-TV operators enabling them to rapidly launch a branded, fully featured, app-based Pay-TV service. The acquisition includes MobiTV’s patent portfolio, which is highly complementary to Xperi’s existing media patent portfolio."

“The acquisition of the MobiTV assets immediately expands our capabilities and the addressable market for our IPTV solutions, helping to secure TiVo’s position as a leading provider of Pay-TV solutions,” said Jon Kirchner, chief executive officer of Xperi, in the statement.  “As a result, the acquisition of MobiTV’s managed service assets will help accelerate our growth in the IPTV market through an increased subscriber footprint.”

UK video tech vendor Amino Technologies has revealed itself to be one of the bidders in Tuesday’s virtual bankruptcy-court auction for MobiTV.

“Whether Amino's bid is successful will be decided by the court following an auction process, to be held on 11 May,” Amino’s board of directors said in a statement sent to shareholders. “Once the auction has been completed, a hearing before the court to request approval of all aspects of the sale to the winning bidder is scheduled for 21 May.”

Both Emerybille, Calif.-headquartered MobiTV and Cambridge-based Amino are well known players within the cadre of companies that sell technologies to the global pay TV market, and they have done some business together before. 

MobiTV provides an SaaS solution called MobiTV Connect that has proven popular to smaller U.S. cable operators looking to downsize their video offerings into app-based services that work on standard off-the-shelf OTT hardware like Roku. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware back in March. 

The tech company listed $19 million in assets vs. $75 million in debt at the time. It’s biggest customer, T-Mobile, provided it with a $15.5 million loan so it could keep operating as it restructured. MobiTV lists 76 full-time salaried employees on its payroll, as well as 10 hourly workers. 

It has not been publicly revealed as to how many other bidders are engaged in MobiTV’s auction, or who the other bidders are. A document released Monday by the Delaware court overseeing the auction said the “debtors received more than one qualified bid."

In addition to T-Mobile's recently scuttled TVision service, MobiTV’s technology is also being used in Sparklight TV, the new app-based video platform being developed by Cable One. The company’s smaller telco cable operator clients include Mississippi’s C-Spire, Windstream, Vast Broadband and MCTV, as well as the National Cable TV Cooperative, which represents more than 850 small cable operators. 

According to earlier published reports, there was movement in the NCTC to assemble a bid to buy MobiTV. It’s unclear as to whether that group is part of Tuesday’s auction process. 

We’re in the middle of a busy few weeks for video streaming product launches, with Roku announcing a flurry of new gadgets alongside its latest OS upgrade, and Apple set to possibly unveil a long-awaited update to Apple TV, among other devices, next week. 

Demand for electronics, already accentuated amid a pandemic that had all of us relying on IP gadgetry even more, is set to further explode. On Friday, equity research company Cowen released results of a survey finding that 43% of U.S. consumers plan to purchase a new smart phone this year, up from 30% in 2020. 

As for connected TV devices, they’re already coming off a record fourth quarter, during which shipments increased by 7.6% to 305.3 million.

Looming over all of this prosperity is a global shortage in the supply of semiconductors that has already brought the auto industry to its knees, and has drawn a 100-day review by the Biden Administration. 

Hamstrung by a shortage of chips that control everything from in-car entertainment systems to power steering sensors, U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford said in February that the semiconductor scarcity could cut into their full-2021 earnings by as much as $2 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively. 

That led President Joe Biden to order a 100-day review of the global semiconductor supply chain, which has been disrupted by a variety of factors, including not just the pandemic, but the overall, vast, all-encompassing spike in the number of products worldwide that require silicon. 

Global semiconductor sales totaled $439 billion in 2020, up 5% over 2019, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Sales for December alone were up 8.3% to over $39 billion.

And manufacturing hasn’t been able to keep up with demand. 

Taiwan-based chipmaker TSMC warned investors this week that the global chip shortage could persist into 2022. U.S.-based semiconductor companies Intel and Nvidia say the problem could persist past 2022. 

For the streaming video industry, the global chip shortage is somewhat akin to news about a strange “coronavirus” emerging out of Wuhan, China in January 2020. The impact hasn’t hit Peoria ... yet—perusing the Q4 earnings reports of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Roku and Xperi didn’t yield one reference to a scarcity of semiconductors. 

But as these publicly traded companies get ready to queue up their Q1 earnings reports, the check’s probably in the mail. 

On Friday, Donald McGarva, CEO of UK-based pay TV set-top tech company Amino Technologies, said lead times for chipset orders have grown by as much as six months recently. 

“Of course, fluctuations in the chipset market have happened before, and Amino always works hard to mitigate customer impact,” McGarva said in a statement. “This time we took early management action to secure stock, increase inventory holdings, build buffer stock and forecast additional kitting and assemblies, all to ensure that our supply chain is operating with the best possible lead times.

“We are not only in constant communication across our supply chain, but also with our distribution partners and customers to anticipate requirements, set expectations and ensure that product is available as needed,” McGarva added. “But there’s plenty more that we can also do to help pay TV operators stay agile and deal with the unexpected.”

Earlier, as Biden convened his review of the shortage, the cable and telecom industry already weighed in.

“As the White House considers executive action on this and other important supply chain issues, we urge you to include broadband providers in measures to address the chip shortage, support initiatives that will expand domestic innovation and investment in semiconductor development and manufacturing facilities for all industries and ensure coordination across government and with industry partners on supply chain matters,” reads a joint letter sent to the Biden Administration from cable and telecom trade groups NCTA, ACA, CTIA and USTelecom. 

Amino Technologies, a key U.K.-based technology shop backing the proliferation of Android TV operator tier set-top solutions across Europe, says its North American presence is “accelerating.” 

The Cambridge, England-based vendor now touts a list of 14 small North American pay TV operators for its tech, which includes AminoOS middleware, the Amigo 7X Ultra-HD set-top, and the Amino Engage SaaS (software as a service) management solution. Amino said its client list includes AW Broadband, Conway Corp., Hay Communications and Home Telecom, which each agreed to endorse the company in a statement intended to boost its fortunes across the pond.

“A crucial element of our transition from legacy video to IPTV is to make sure that existing subscribers who may have little or no experience with streaming services are still able to adopt our new platform successfully,” said Jason Hansen, chief technology officer for Arkansas-based Conway, which uses Amino tech in its ConwayCorpTV service. 

“Launching Android TV services has opened up a new level of possibility for some of our more traditional customers,” added Caoimhe Zett, customer marketing supervisor for Charleston, N.C.-headquartered Home Telecom, which uses Amino in its HomeStream TV offering. 

Amino touts 250 million customers worldwide across 65 countries. The company says its technology powers 10 million devices. 

Amino also references T-Mobile, Cincinnati Bell and Consolidated Communications on the “customers” page of its website. 

“Consumers are looking for easy access to content, wherever it is, and intuitive UIs that are simple to navigate,” Amino Group CEO Donald McGarva said. “At the same time, operators want a flexible, cost-effective route to modernizing their services with OTT content, while managing the consumer experience.”

Amino Technologies, a key UK-based technology shop backing the proliferation of Android TV operator tier set-top solutions across Europe, says its North American presence is “accelerating.” 

The vendor, based in Cambridge, now touts a list of 14 North American pay TV operators for its tech, which includes AminoOS middleware, the Amigo 7X Ultra-HD set-top, and the Amino Engage SaaS management solution. The company says its client list includes AW Broadband, Conway Corp., Hay Communications and Home Telecom, which each agreed to shill for Amino in a press release last week intended to boost the company’s fortunes across the pond.

"A crucial element of our transition from legacy video to IPTV is to make sure that existing subscribers who may have little or no experience with streaming services are still able to adopt our new platform successfully," said Jason Hansen, chief technology officer for Conway, Arkansas-based Conway, which uses Amino tech in its ConwayCorpTV service. "The Amigo 7X gives us that capability by providing a refreshed Conway Corp. branded UI, traditional grid guide and standard remote all while still providing an alluring product for those cable-never audiences. “

"Launching Android TV services has opened up a new level of possibility for some of our more traditional customers," added Caoimhe Zett, customer marketing supervisor for Charleston, N.C.-headquartered Home Telecom, which uses Amino in its HomeStream TV offering. "Amino has supported us throughout the entire life cycle, from building mission-critical Android TV capabilities to going through the certification process and becoming market-ready in record time.”

Globally, Amino touts 250 million customers across 65 countries. The company says its technology powers 10 million devices. 

Amino also references T-Mobile, Cincinnati Bell and Consolidated Communications in the “customers” page of its website. 

“Consumers are looking for easy access to content, wherever it is, and intuitive UIs that are simple to navigate," says Donald McGarva, Amino Group CEO. "At the same time, operators want a flexible, cost-effective route to modernizing their services with OTT content, while managing the consumer experience. We're pleased that Amino has been enabling North American operators to stay at the cutting-edge of the TV revolution through launching Android TV Operator Tier services and we look forward to driving this transformation forward with more new customers throughout 2021."

Silicon Valley-based MobiTV has partnered with UK-based set-top software maker Amino on a new solution that will enable legacy set-tops to use MobiTV’s Connect IP video platform.

Under the new solution, which will be commercially available in the fourth quarter, according to the announcement, previously deployed set-tops will be “up-cycled” with AminoOS Enable software, giving them the ability to integrate IP video experiences delivered MobiTV’s Connect video platform.

MobiTV said it has 90 operators, either in trials or deployment for Connect, an end-to-end solution designed to let smaller service providers deliver popular over-the-top services along with managed linear video products.

MobiTV recently announced a new $50 million funding round to expand distribution of its IPTV platform.

“By enabling operators to offer exciting next generation services such as MobiTV with a relatively modest additional investment, we’re extending the life of installed devices: a highly significant CAPEX benefit,” said Amino CEO Donald McGarva, in a statement.

“We continue to focus on giving operators new options for delivering video services through whichever device they choose,” said Bill Routt, COO and president, MobiTV. “Our partnership with Amino expands our approach, recognizing that both operators and subscribers need video services that bring the best of both legacy linear and OTT streaming.”

Amino’s Jamie Mackinlay doesn’t believe the commonly held assumption that the proprietary pay TV set-top box will give way to popular over-the-top streaming devices like Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

Mackinlay, senior vice president of marketing, product management and sales operations for the Cambridge, U.K.-based technology company, traded on the London Stock Exchange and rooted in IPTV, continues to reassure customers their legacy set-tops are just fine. And that those boxes can deliver next-generation OTT video experiences to customers over these older devices without so much as a truck roll.

At this week’s NAB Show, Mackinlay and Amino will pitch their “Operator Ready” Android TV solution, a cloud-based system for delivering an operator-branded video service to customers that also incorporates all the streaming apps they download in the Google Play store as well as Google Voice functionality.

This system can be remotely uploaded to legacy set-tops, with processing conducted in the cloud.

“We know you can get a cheap Android TV box, slap it up, and it’ll cost almost nothing, but that doesn’t solve the operator’s problem,” Mackinlay said. “They want a managed device in the customer’s home, one that’s integrated into their systems.

“When you rely on Roku or Apple TV, you lose control of the device and you lose control of the data,” he continued. “You have no control of what’s happening. What we’re saying is, Don’t do that.”

Amino’s concept of conducting processing in the cloud and delivering MPEG video back to legacy set-tops isn’t a new one. Charter Communications partnered with ActiveVideo to do this several years ago.

Among its 250 worldwide pay TV customers, Amino has used Linux-based approaches with clients like Cincinnati Bell, which saved $20 million in capital expenditures by not upgrading 150,000 set-tops, according to Mackinlay.

These days, Amino’s focus — like a lot of video tech vendors — is on the operator tier version of Android TV, an open platform Mackinlay said is very quickly catching on with his clients. About 10% of Amino’s customer base is now using Android TV, he said.

In December, Shalini Govil-Pai, senior director of product management for Android TV, told Multichannel News that the platform is now being used by more than 100 pay TV operators around the world. This includes AT&T, which is making Android TV operator tier the system that powers the new slimline set-top for its now premium live-streaming service.

“What Google did with operator tier was take a significant step toward in terms of branding and the levels of control that are acceptable to operators,” Mackinlay said.

At Amino’s NAB Show booth this week in Las Vegas, the company will host what it calls its “Beat the Box” challenge. Essentially, it will compare the cost of upgrading an operator’s video system using its Android TV solution to what they’d spend otherwise.

“We’ll walk people through the various strategies, and we’ll help them create a modern television experience,” Mackinlay said.

Amino said it has received Google certification for its “Operator Ready” Android TV solution for the pay TV market.

The Cambridge, UK-based technology vendor made its announcement ahead of next week’s NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Amino’s Operator Ready Android TV solution is targeted to pay TV companies looking to ready-made solutions for blending their linear program guide with various OTT programming choices.

The solution includes a fully compliant Android TV software stack based on Google reference design, as well a licensed Google TV Services suit of applications, including PlayStore, Play Movie, Play Music and YouTube. Also included are voice control and Bluetooth pairing capabilities.

“AminoOS is at the heart of our Operator Ready Android TV solution, which enables small and medium pay-TV operators to painlessly and cost-effectively deliver the modern TV

experiences their subscribers demand,” says Amino CEO Donald McGarva, in a statement. “The software enables greater device agility, which we see as the Amino advantage for clients looking to offer leading-edge features such as voice control, multiscreen delivery, federated search, personalized user experience and the latest apps.”

Although Arris is still fighting “headwinds” caused by MVPD consolidation paired with a consolidating and shrinking set-top market, one analyst thinks concerns about the supplier's future are a bit overblown, holding that the company remains well-positioned when it comes to the larger IP video transition.

Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold maintained his “Strong Buy” on the stock Monday, and a target price of $40 (at last check Monday, Arris shares were trading at $30.08, down 44 cents (1.44%) for the day). 

“The rapid demise of broadcast video and death of ARRIS's CPE business has been greatly exaggerated and we remain buyers of the stock,” he wrote, referring to Arris’s recently released annual Consumer Entertainment Index survey, which found that the growth/decline of OTT and traditional broadcast TV services, at +1% and -1%, respectively, being almost imperceptible at +1% and -1%.  “This seems to defy the expectations that 2015 would be a key inflection point and the start of a mass ‘cord cutting’ revolution. We see the transition of video from broadcast to IP as a gradual evolution driving product cycles and not a revolution ending the CPE market.”

In the meantime, those who are staying in the CPE business are looking to amass as much scale as possible, whether it’s Arris’s proposed merger with U.K.-based STB rival Pace Plc, Technicolor’s pending purchase of Cisco Systems’ set-top/CPE business, or even Amino’s play for Entone.

That said, he’s still confident with Arris’s long-term strategy, as “the fundamental demand for video equipment remains very healthy, driven by an inevitable structural shift in network architecture toward all IP and CCAP (converged cable access platform) along with telco video distribution.”

Arris, which recently lowered Q2 guidance, is scheduled to post financial results on Wednesday (July 29).

Signaling more vendor consolidation in the sluggish set-top box market, U.K.-based Amino Technologies has inked a deal to acquire Entone Inc. for $73 million ($65 million in cash).

Both suppliers make and sell IP-only and hybrid set-tops and gateways.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Entone, which also sells WiFi adapters and other types of accessories, has been particularly successful in the independent tier 2/3 service provider market using a platform that mixes traditional pay TV and over-the-top video, but has also secured footholds with majors.  Entone, which has also promoting an “legal” Aereo-alternative under which its FusionTV service combines over-the-air and over-the-top video services, has notched recent wins with Vodafone Netherlands, Three River Communications, mobile operator TIM Brasil, and Volia, a Ukrainian cable operator. In 2013, Entone and TiVo announced an agreement to jointly pursue IPTV deals that would also clear the way for Entone to combine TiVo with boxes with or without local DVR storage and focus on the delivery of cloud-based apps and services. 

Privately-held Entone, which has more than 150 customers globally, pulled in revenues of $43.4 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014, and EBITDA of $3.9 million. In the 11 month period from May 31, 2015, Entone generated revenues of $46.7 million and EBITDA of $5.1 million. Entone had net cash of $12 million and net assets of $15.9 million as of May 31, 2015.

Amino said the deal will help it boost its global footprint and scale while also removing a direct competitor from the market. It expects financial synergies of about £1.0 million (US$1.5 billion) in the full year after the deal is closed. They expect to close the deal in the third quarter.

Scale is also a driving reason behind Arris’s proposed $2.1 billion acquisition of Pace Plc, the U.K.-based maker of set-tops, video software and broadband access gear.

"The proposed acquisition of Entone has the potential to transform our business and broaden our capabilities and market reach globally across IPTV, hybrid broadcast and a range of connected home solutions,” Amino CEO Donald McGarva said in a statement, claiming the deal also aligns with Amino’s recent buy of cloud-TV platform provider Booxmedia.

"Bringing together Amino and Entone would create a significant new presence in the pay-TV market with solutions and skillsets that are highly complementary,” added Entone CEO Steve McKay. “We share a very similar vision as to how our industry is changing and the kinds of solutions that are required to address both existing and new customers."

Canaccord Genuity has been appointed as financial adviser and joint bookrunner in connection with the acquisition.