TiVo CEO Says Rumors of Apple's Beefed-Up TV Strategy 'Validates' What His Company Is Doing

Apple’s renewed focus on conquering television doesn’t scare TiVo.

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After calling Apple “a hugely formidable company” on Wednesday, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said that whatever Apple has in store as it rejuvenates its foray into TV, it only serves to validate TiVo’s strategy -- which has been to put VOD, broadband, cable and broadcast options on a single interface.

“That’s the guts of the TiVo proposition today,” Rogers said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference in New York.

STORY: TiVo Grows Revenue, Subscriptions In Latest Quarter

When journalists began reporting that Apple was in talks with several potential television partners, shares of TiVo went higher, Rogers said.

TiVo’s strategy includes embedding itself into many gadgets, and it will be in the hotly anticipated Nintendo Wii U that will be on U.S. store shelves Nov. 18.

Rogers also said he is experimenting with TiVo in the cloud -- no set-top box necessary -- and he touted TiVo Stream, a $130 gadget that is similar to Apple TV and makes television shows recorded on TiVo available for viewing on an iPad, iPod or iPhone.

Without offering statistical data, Rogers said cable operators that offer TiVo experience less churn. He also said some soon-to-be announced deals with small cable operators could be “extremely profitable.”

STORY: Olympics 2012: The Top 10 TiVo'd Moments

The executive also addressed cord-cutting, calling it “not a major theme” among consumers, though even if it were, TiVo would thrive because its boxes still include over-the-air tuners.

Rogers began his presentation joking about a speech he gave to an audience of international cable TV executives shortly after Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican National Convention.

“I geared my presentation to talking to an empty chair,” Rogers recalled Wednesday. “I made the mistake of misgauging the awareness of an international audience, and it didn’t go over at all – total silence in the room – so I will not be talking to that empty chair.”

This time, Rogers got laughs.