TiVo’s revenue during the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 dropped 20 percent to $59.2 million from the comparable year-ago quarter, as the company continued to lose subscribers. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $2.5 million vs. a gain of $900,000 during the prior year’s quarter, and the net loss was $3.6 million against a loss of $6.4 million the previous year. The company managed to counter revenue declines by cutting costs. Specifically:

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—Total net subscribers decreased 125,000 to 3.3 million.

—Net subscribers from the TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) product owners decreased 4,000 versus a net addition of 19,000 during the same period the previous year.

—Net subscribers from cable subscribers who opt for the TiVo service fell 121,000 versus a decline of 518,000 during the same period the previous year.

—Costs were held relatively low as the company decreased its cost-per-subscriber-acquisition to $114 from $125 during the same period the previous year.

—The percent of subscribers who cancel the service remained about the same at 1.3 percent.

The first quarter of fiscal 2010, which ends April 30, looks to be worse than the just-reported quarter, with the company expecting a net loss of $6 million to $8 million and EBITDA between zero and $2 million.

Earnings release