There was an interesting story about TiVo in the San Jose Mercury News. Essentially, it said that despite posting its first ever profit, the "company warned Wall Street it would sacrifice earnings later this year as it aggressively seeks new subscribers."

TiVo's new chief executive, Tom Rogers, offered an unvarnished appraisal of the company's prospects and conceded considerable challenges lie ahead.

"Near term, we clearly have some difficulties that we clearly have to confront with a clear sense of reality," said Rogers, a TiVo board member who took over as chief executive six week ago. "In facing those realities we need to create a clear path for TiVo as a central player in the future of the television landscape."

Stiking more deals like the one recently with Comcast appears to be a central focus. I might note that in the U.S., the Comcast deal has already given them the largest boost that they could get from an arrangement like that. Time Warner could be equally significant but then it's all down hill after that.

More likely, the company's future will be levered to whether it can capitalize on building up revenue from advertising initiative. I know that Comcast's advertising folks (a.k.a., Spotlight) are spending a considerable amount of time with TiVo.