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TiVo Petitions FCC to Reinstate CableCARD Customer Access Rules

WASHINGTON, DC — (Marketwired) — 07/16/13 — TiVo Inc., a leading provider of advanced television entertainment and a pioneer in digital video recording, is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that consumers can continue to access cable content on retail devices using CableCARDs until a successor solution is available.

TiVo has filed a petition asking the FCC to reinstate procedures aimed at guaranteeing that cable customers continue to have the ability to use competitive set top boxes with CableCARDs — providing viewers with greater choice and flexibility. TiVo-s submission comes in response to a recent court decision in a case brought by EchoStar challenging the applicability to satellite providers of FCC rules concerning the ability to record television programming. While TiVo strongly disagrees with the court-s decision with respect to the satellite industry, this ruling unintentionally created uncertainty regarding cable operators- obligations to support consumer access to CableCARDs because certain technical rules concerning the implementation of CableCARDs were contained in the same FCC order that the court struck down despite the fact that operator support for retail devices using CableCARDs was not the subject of the court challenge.

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. cable customers currently rely on CableCARDs to gain access to TiVo and other recording and navigation devices with hundreds of thousands of more households expected to gain access in the near future.

The FCC-s encoding and conditional access procedures are rules “that cable operators and consumer electronics manufacturers agreed to a decade ago and that cable operators, content providers, equipment manufacturers, and consumers have relied on for the past decade without controversy,” TiVo Senior Vice President and General Counsel Matthew P. Zinn said in the petition.

“TiVo is eager to work with the cable industry on a successor security solution to CableCARD that works for retail. Until a new solution that can actually enable retail competition is available, however, the FCC must endeavor to make the existing CableCARD standard work for consumers and complementary technology providers because CableCARD currently is the only choice that consumers have to purchase a retail device that gets access to all cable programming,” Zinn said.

“By vacating the FCC-s encoding and conditional access procedures in an overbroad ruling, the Court inadvertently created uncertainty in the industry — uncertainty that harms well settled consumer expectation, competition and innovation. For example, not only did TiVo bring the first commercial digital video recorder (DVR) to market, it was the first cable DVR to provide large capacity storage, multi-room viewing, integration of over the top video content sources (such as Netflix, YouTube and Hulu Plus) and integrated search, plus streaming to and control of the DVR via iOS tablets and phones. Operator-supplied set-top boxes do not provide Netflix and other over the top content sources. The Commission can and should remove the uncertainty that threatens such innovation and consumer choice by restoring the status quo before the EchoStar decision, so that manufacturers and consumers can have assurance that current retail products will be supported and will continue to work as advertised. However, TiVo is not intending to suggest that the FCC should in any way stop focusing on a viable successor to CableCARD. TiVo has long supported the idea of alternative security solutions so long as they actually enable retail competition,” Zinn said.

“The Commission-s regulations cannot assure commercial availability of retail devices if consumers cannot rely on the products being supported or working as advertised. Reinstatement of the recently vacated rules until a viable successor to CableCARD is available is necessary to facilitate competition, innovation, and new product entries in the marketplace,” Zinn said.

Founded in 1997, TiVo Inc. developed the first commercially available digital video recorder (DVR). Today TiVo is a global leader in advanced television service for virtually any platform or device. TiVo offers its service directly to consumers, and also distributes its technology and services through solutions tailored for cable, satellite and broadcasting companies. Since its founding, TiVo has evolved into the ultimate single-solution media center by combining its patented DVR technologies and universal cable box capabilities with the ability to aggregate, search and deliver millions of pieces of broadband, cable and broadcast content directly to the television. TiVo also continues to weave itself into the fabric of the media industry by providing interactive advertising solutions and audience research and measurement ratings services to the television industry .

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to, among other things, the future sales of CableCARD devices. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “intend,” “estimate,” “continue,” or similar expressions or the negative of those terms or expressions. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include delays in development, competitive service offerings and lack of market acceptance, as well as the other potential factors described under “Risk Factors” in TiVo-s public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including TiVo-s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2013, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. TiVo cautions you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect an analysis only and speak only as of the date hereof. TiVo disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.