Crains New York - February 4, 2013 - (Page 12)

DIGITAL NY TiVo trolls NYC for acquisitions BY JUDITH MESSINA T iVo—remember them? —is on the make in Silicon Alley.The California-based DVR pioneer is shopping for acquisitions in New York as it remakes itself into an all-purpose media hub. “We talk a lot to Silicon Valley companies,” said Chief Executive Tom Rogers in a meeting with Crain’s last week. “We’re looking now in Silicon Alley.Are there companies here we could invest in?” TiVo packages broadcast, broadband, cable and video on demand in one interface (a TiVo box). It’s increasingly turning its attention toward selling data and advertising— and that’s where it’s looking for acquisitions, based on Mr. Rogers’ comments at the meeting. He said TiVo is interested in buying companies with data troves or technology that can evaluate the effectiveness of ads or develop new ways for advertisers to hawk their Flush with cash TiVo is selling the data to more than 60 agencies, networks and brands, including Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods. Cash is no problem. TiVo has some $600 million in the bank from winning patent fights with EchoStar Communications, AT&T and Verizon, and will likely have more after similar suits against Motorola, Cisco and Time Warner go to trial this spring—or are settled in advance. That the company is still around might be something of a surprise to the tens of millions of people who get DVR from their cable providers. Founded in 1997, TiVo made a splash not only by letting people record television programs for later viewing, but also by allowing them to fast-forward through annoying commercials. It ran into a headwind, though, bloomberg news The DVR pioneer is alive and well and looking for buys in Silicon Alley brands. TiVo has already made one marriage here. Last July, it bought television analytics company TRA, whose convenient acronym allowed TiVo to rename the company TiVo Research and Analytics. TRA is a venture-backed firm that matches consumers’ purchases—via supermarket loyalty cards—with the television commercials they’ve seen. CEO Tom Rogers hopes to make TiVo into a media hub when cable companies started providing—and making money on— their own DVRs. Today, TiVo has 3 million subscribers, down from 4.4 million at its peak in 2007. The damages from the patent litigation have replenished TiVo’s bal- ance sheet.It now has agreements with nine of the top 21 cable companies in the U.S., including RCN in Manhattan,as well as content providers such as Hulu Plus, Netflix, Spotify, YouTube and Amazon. Users can also stream recorded content to mobile devices and take it with them. TiVo’s stock is up to over $12 from its 52-week low of $7.75. With a boost from the $250 million Verizon settlement, the company made a profit in the third quarter of 2012, turning around a loss in the year-earlier quarter. But it also has a new set of competitors such as Apple and Roku,and emerging models that deliver programming from the cloud. Moreover, persuading consumers outside its cable-company agreements to buy a TiVo box is a challenge. “What’s [the] path to market, what is the differentiator and how do they boil it down for consumer adoption?” asked Greg Ireland, an analyst and research manager with market-research firm IDC. Putting it together The FCC guarantees consumers the ability to use any DVR they want. If they want TiVo, they have to get their cable company to take back its DVR. Consumers must then rent a cable card, buy a TiVo box and a subscription online or from a retail- SOCIAL DOSSIERS ON JOB SEEKERS THE WEB is getting more social, and so is tech recruiting. New York-based tech jobs site Dice rolled out a tool last week called Open Web that compiles a social dossier on millions of job candidates using information they’ve posted themselves on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Altogether, the new service culls details from more than 50 social and professional networks across billions of Web pages, and includes, along with links, the candidate’s personal email address. “All of this [information] is publicly available,” said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings Inc. “It’s just very difficult to go out and find. We’re basically taking activities recruiters do today and making it very easy for them.” —MATTHEW FLAMM er, and install the system themselves. “It’s a better experience, and you save money,” said Mr. Rogers. “There are countless ways to get the Internet, but TiVo is the only one that puts it all together.” Ⅲ To sign up for Crain’s DIGITAL NY emails, go to www.crainsnewyork .com/newsletters. SMALL BUSINESS Planters are growth engine for horticulture firm BY BILL GLOVIN I n a vertical city like Manhattan, unusual spaces are often hidden from view. One such green enclave is the 12thfloor setback of the Architects & Designers Building on East 58th Street, where—once darkness descends—a 3,000-square-foot garden features spewing fountains,a wisteria arbor, a freshwater bog and several cultivars of sedum plants (used in green roofing), all lit by luminescent planters that slowly change color and create a Zen-like, meditative environment. The planters—called “glowboxes”—were created for Sitaras Fitness by Larry Shepps, founder and principal of PlantusNYC (www.plantus nyc.com) in Irvington, N.Y. Mr. Shepps, whose three-person horticulture-contracting firm’s revenues ranged around $400,000 in 2011, has created and maintained some of New York City’s more recog- nizable spaces: 1 and 2 Penn Plaza, Cushman & Wakefield’s global headquarters at 1290 Sixth Ave., the dancing fountain plaza at 59 Maiden Lane, the Maritime Hotel and the Congo Habitat at the Bronx Zoo. Years of tinkering Mr. Shepps had been handling lobby flower rotations and landscaping the front of the Vornado Realty Trust building at 150 E.58th St.when he met 12thfloor tenant John Sitaras, proprietor of Sitaras NUMBER OF Fitness, a gym LEED projects popular among registered and financial and certified in New York City, as of business execuMay 2012 tives,and personSource: U.S. Green al trainer to JimBuilding Council my Johnson of NASCAR fame.Mr.Sitaras gave him the creative freedom to experiment with the first glowboxes, helping him perfect his idea, says Mr. Shepps. “Before using the glowboxes on projects, I first needed to see how they would survive through the night, then the winter,” said Mr. Shepps. “They did just fine. Now I’m comfortable incorporating them into other projects.” Mr. Shepps has gradually expanded 12 | Crain’s New York Business | February 4, 2013 881 from contracted services to selling a host of other products, such as wisteria arbors, sedum and a line of imported, Asian-themed statuary. The glowbox, which neatly fits a ribbon of LED strips under the top of the planter’s frame for illumination, has the potential to advertise company URLs or logos on its white porcelain “skin.” Hidden technology changes the planter’s skin color at timed intervals. For Mr. Shepps, the glowbox is the next generation of a patentpending planter box he developed from a retrofitted drainage pipe five years ago. He has been improving his invention ever since, investing about $60,000 on research and development. The latest version, which costs about $875 for a threefoot-long, 16-inch-high planter, is light enough to sit on rooftops and is portable.Thanks to the pipes’ ribs and troughs, it is also good at capturing moisture. Mr. Shepps was pleased to discover that annuals that did not survive winter in planters he used previously now revive easily. Mr. Shepps transformed the planter’s skin to create the glowbox about a year ago. His most ambitious structure to date is a 200-foot elongated version that lines the perimeter of a law firm’s space on the 17th floor LET THERE BE LIGHTS: Larry Shepps has illuminated Manhattan gardens with a “glowbox” planter he spent years developing. dan bracaglia PlantusNYC’s glowing gardens build its presence in the city’s high-profile buildings at 1290 Sixth Ave.To create what he believes is the longest planter in New York City, he cut drainage pipes into seven-foot sections, inserted them into white porcelain boxes, and melded seven-foot sections together on-site. He hopes to market the long planters to existing clients and a West Coast distributor as barriers for security or traffic, or for use as benchlike seating. Greener buildings Besides illuminating Manhattan’s nightscape year-round, glowboxes help make urban buildings more environmentally friendly,too,according to Mr. Shepps, who received a mas- ter’s degree in horticulture from Clemson University in 1979. He says that using planters and sedum on setbacks and green rooftops can reduce stormwater runoff, a major environmental concern in New York City,especially after Hurricane Sandy, and provide sanctuary for birds and butterflies. That’s a plus for buildings that want to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification points—and a strong selling point, too. Ⅲ To sign up for Crain’s SMALL BUSINESS newsletter, go to www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz. http://www.crainsnewyork.com/newsletters http://www.crainsnewyork.com/newsletters http://www.plantusnyc.com http://www.plantusnyc.com http://www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - February 4, 2013

THE INSIDER
ALAIR TOWNSEND
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
GREG DAVID
DIGITAL NY
SMALL BUSINESS
REPORT: HEALTH CARE
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - February 4, 2013