TiVo loses subscribers but adds small profit

TiVo's midyear report card is in, and the numbers are better than most analysts expected.

The results aren't fabulous, but anything's better than the $17.7 million loss a year ago. In the second quarter of this year, the maker of digital video recorders earned revenues of $65.2 million, eking out a profit of $2.9 million, good for 3 cents per share for investors. Analysts had been anticipating revenues between $54 million and 59.3 million, a loss of 2 cents per share.

TiVo recorded lower services revenues this quarter than a year ago, but it did make more money on hardware, to bring up its revenue 4 percent to $65.2 million. The company continued to lose subscribers this quarter, as a result of DirecTV's earlier decision to stop offering TiVo and sell its own DVR system instead.

Other distribution deals, including the partnership with Comcast, are still in the early stages, according to TiVo. The company added just 36,000 new customers in the second quarter, while losing 78,000 subscribers, bringing the current total to 3.6 million.

TiVo stock was down 37 cents to $7.59 in after-hours trading.