A Simpson’s episode about the famous cartoon family using TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) to skip commercials - with Homer declaring, “I spit on your corpse, ad-supported television” - served as an unusual introduction for Tom Rogers, TiVo’s CEO, for his presentation on the second day of Citigroup’s 18th Annual Global Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications Conference Phoenix, AZ. Rogers clearly does not share Homer’s sentiments when it comes to advertising. However, he did say that TV’s business model is in the midst of a crisis because of growing user-control. He offered his pitch for how TiVo can help marketers, networks and cable operators address these issues, all while improving the company’s own financial picture.

-- New consumption model: “We’ve introduced many new forms of advertising inventory which are all about to use an interface and remote control. That’s the basis on which viewers experience their television shows. It gets them to go in and seek out ads, when they’re not going to passively sit there and take them in. In order to provide a basis for advertisers to assess the performance of their ads in that new consumption model, we’ve created all kinds of measurements and accountability around it, similar to the kinds of measurements advertisers have grown accustomed to on the internet.” He referred to audience data tools such as TiVo’s second-by-second audience measurement program, Stop//Watch, and the Power//Watch Consumer Panel, an opt-in service which measures the DVR viewing habits of 20,000 households, as a way to extend its services to marketers, ad agencies and TV networks beyond TiVo’s own specific ad inventory. “The fact that Nielsen doesn’t have a measurement system with enough granularity to measure what commercials are being seen has created an opening for us.”

-- Growth objectives:  TiVo is pinning its success on four areas: cable operator agreements, advertising and audience research, international expansion and patents. So far, Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) and Cox have signed on, but other MSOs have been more reluctant - TiVo’s major priority is to change those minds. As stated above, advertising is another key, and Rogers pointed to the recent NBC Universal deal, which went into effect Jan. 1. It involved sharing audience data with NBCU, which in turn, agreed to help sell TiVo’s interactive ad tags. Still another objective Rogers has is to take TiVo international. ”Our dance card has become full internationally,” he said, citing new agreements in Canada and Mexico, with Australian set-top boxes set to come online this year . Building up its patent portfolio is seen as an increasingly valuable source for the company as well.

-- Too many boxes: TiVo also believes it can position itself as a hub for all of its users digital entertainment, including music thanks to its deal with Rhapsody. “Walking around CES, it’s clear that there are too many boxes. Consumers want something simple and something that will bring all their entertainment together. We can provide that and that’s our value proposition.”

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