Cubiware, the TiVo-owned middleware provider, said it will further its expansion into Asia via a new partnership with MStar Semiconductor.

Under the deal, Taiwan-based MStar will integrate Cubiware’s CubiTV Hybrid Middleware with its HD MPEG-4/MPEG-HEVC hybrid chipset platform. The combo, which will implement “TiVo Lite” onto MStar chipsets, will be pitched to set-top makers targeting the pay TV and over-the-top service provider markets.

TiVo acquired Poland-based Cubiware last year, adding a maker of middleware for cable, satellite and IPTV operators that gave TiVo a way to pursue international markets using a product set that can deliver a TiVo experience on boxes that require less horsepower than the traditional TiVo platform.

TiVo, which is in the process of being acquired by Rovi for $1.1 billion, announced a similar Cubiware partnership with Ali Corp.,  another Taiwan-based set-top silicon supplier, earlier this year.

“MStar's capabilities fully complement Cubiware's IPTV and VOD functions. This will make for an enhanced and exciting offering for our customers and partners,” Jakub Gorski, co-founder of Cubiware, said in a statement. 

TiVo’s MSO business stayed hot in the company’s third fiscal quarter with 418,000 net adds, pushing its MVPD-partnership category beyond 5.51 million subs.

TiVo, which is expanding to pay TV operators in emerging markets via its recent acquisition of middleware vendor Cubiware, said its MSO partnership business in the quarter experienced its strongest growth in 10 years.

While TiVo has seen the bulk of its MSO-oriented growth come from international partners, the company said its business with North  American MVPDs grew 44% across more than 15 mid-sized operators. Digitalsmiths, TiVo’s search and recommendation and analytics unit that counts Charter, Time Warner Cable and Dish Network as customers, also posted double-digit growth, TiVo said. 

“We’re gaining about a million subs every nine months,” TiVo president and CEO Tom  Rogers said in an interview. He said MSO-related revenues in Q3 grew 60% year-on-year, and 47% on a sequential basis. 

Amid the recent launch of the 4K-capable, ad-skipping TiVo Bolt, the company also added 11,000 TiVo-owned subs, expanding that total to 952,000.

Amid the recent launch of the 4K-capable, ad-skipping TiVo Bolt DVR, the company also added 11,000 TiVo-owned subs, expanding that total to 952,000.  Rogers noted that Q3 only included a week to ten days of Bolt sales.

With the MSO and retail categories factored in, TiVo added 429,000 subs in Q3, for a grand total of 6.46 million. 

With both categories factored in, TiVo added 429,000 subs, for a grand total of 6.46 million, up 26% versus the year-ago period. 

On the financial end, TiVo said Q3 service and software and technology revenues hit a record $102.8 million, up 17% versus the year-ago quarter, and near the top of its expected range of $100 million to $103 million.

GAAP Net Income was $5.3 million.  Non-GAAP net Income grew 39%, to $9.9 million, a figure that excluded $1.9 million relating to amortization & earn-outs from Cubiware, $1.9 million of interest expense on the 2021 convertible notes, and $0.9 million loss on the repurchase of 2016 convertible notes, all net of tax. 

"This was a strong quarter of execution and growth,” Rogers, who is stepping down from that role to become non-executive chairman in February 2016, said in a statement. He added that “the turnaround in the TiVo-Owned business continues as we launched the innovative TiVo BOLT and gross additions were up 44% year-over-year, our ninth straight quarter of double-digit growth.”

TiVo’s acquisition of middleware vendor Cubiware has been parlayed into a “large-scale” deployment with Poland’s Multimedia Polska.

TiVo said the operator has selected the CubiTV hybrid middleware platform for delivery of digital video broadcast services on set-tops and a “portal server” across Poland. The set-tops running CubiTV will initially support HDTV and DVR recording, with an upgrade path to add VOD, network DVR and catch-up TV services, TiVo said. 

CubiTV middleware enables advanced services and UIs to run on low-power, small-footprint processors, and is viewed as a vehicle for TiVo to penetrate emerging pay TV markets. When TiVo acquired the Warsaw, Poland-based company in May, Cubiware had about 40 customers across Latin America, Europe and the Middle East and Asia representing about 12 million video subs, and had its middleware deployed on roughly 4 million devices. 

Multimedia Polska, a fixed and mobile service operator, has about 822,000 customers and 1.6 million revenue generating units, a figure comprised of cable TV, internet, telephony, and premium channels subscriptions.

The majority of TiVo’s sub base continues to come from outside the U.S., as the company announced Monday that it has surpassed 4 million international subscriptions for its “traditional” offering.

TiVoended its fiscal Q2 with 6.03 million total subs (941,000 TiVo-owned, and 5.09 million through MSO partners).

The bulk of TiVo’s international based comes way of Virgin Media (now part of Liberty Global), ONO/Vodafone in Spain and Com Hem in Sweden. Other international TiVo partners include QuickFlix (Australia and New Zealand); LiTV (Taiwan); Cogeco (Canada); and Cablevision (Mexico).

Update: TiVo said its latest international sub figure does not include Cogeco, as TiVo classifies all North American partners as part of its domestic subscriber count. 

TiVo is also looking to expand its international opportunities via its recent acquisition of Cubiware, a middleware vendor for cable, satellite and IPTV operators that will enable TiVo to bridge its platform to more low-cost devices. In May, when the deal was announced, Cubiware had its software  deployed on more than 4 million devices, and customers in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Asia that represent about 12 million pay TV subs.

“Our recent acquisition of Cubiware has expanded our ability to service international markets allowing us to offer products to almost every television operator regardless of size or ARPU in a given market,” David Sandford, vice president and general manager, international, at TiVo said in a statement. “We now offer a portfolio of products to large, medium and small sized operators seeking a diverse array of products and features to serve a wide spectrum of subscribers.”

Factoring in 24 million households that use Cubiware and Digitalsmiths technology, TiVo said it now has relationships with operators  with a combined global footprint of nearly 90 million homes. 

TiVo has struck a deal with Millicom International Cellular, an agreement that marks a sizable win for TiVo in Latin America.

TiVo isn’t going into a lot of detail about the deal, other than noting in this 8-K filing that it will involve “multiple TiVo products." 

“On September 21, 2015, TiVo Inc. entered into an agreement with Millicom International Cellular S.A. (MIC) a global provider of wireless and wireline communication services to over 50 million subscribers," TiVo explained."The agreement relates to the deployment of multiple TiVo products and services to MIC-owned pay television platforms in certain Latin American territories.”

 Millicon ended Q2 2015 5.23 million cable and digital revenue generating units (RGUs) in Latin America. It also ended ended the period with 31.6 million mobile subs in Latin America and 27.68 million mobile subs in Africa. 

TiVoended its fiscal Q2 with 6.03 million total subs (941,000 TiVo-owned, and 5.09 million through MSO partners). The majority TiVo’s subs with MSOs come way of cable partnerships in Europe.

It’s possible that the coming deployment will factor in TiVo’s recent acquisition of middleware company Cubiware.  When the deal was announced in May, TiVo called it an “important, strategic step for us internationally,” noting that it would help TiVo expand its presence in 25 countries, including parts of Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Asia. Cubiware will enable TiVo to run its platform on digital transport adapters and other lower-cost, non-DVR devices that don’t pack the horsepower of traditional TiVo DVRs.  Boxes with Cubiware also will not require  TiVo’s full Hardware Porting Kit. Cubiware’s announced partners include Columbus Communications (part of Cable & Wireless) and Cablemas (part of Televisa) in Latin America.

Earlier this month, TiVo introduced TiVo Lite, a platform that uses Cubiware middleware and the Digitalsmiths video search, recommendations and analytics platform that can support STB clients with TiVo’s mobile apps for iOS and Android.

TiVo is using this week’s IBC show in Amsterdam to introduce TiVo Lite, a platform for lower-cost (and non-DVR) set-tops that take advantage of middleware from Cubiware and video search, recommendations and analytics from Digitalsmiths.

TiVo acquired Cubiware earlier this year, and bought Digitalsmiths in 2014.

TiVo said operators have the option to combine TiVo Lite STB clients with TiVo's mobile applications for iOS and Android, supporting linear TV, on-demand and OTT in and out of the customer’s home.

On the deal front, TiVo said Supercanal, a top MSO in Argentina, has picked Cubiware for a digital project that will enlist a company called Bold as the service’s integrator and  VOD service provider. The resulting offering will also include Cubiware's Portal Server and Multiscreen (CubiGo) apps. Additionally, apart from linear TV, set-top boxes will support over the top and video on demand from FoxPlay and Telecine, TiVo said. 

TiVo ended its fiscal Q2 with 6.03 million total subs (941,000 TiVo-owned, and 5.09 million through MSO partners).