Despite recent rumours that it was close to a pull out in Australia, TiVo licensee, Hybrid Television Services – part of Kerry Stokes’s recently rejigged empire – says it scuppered competition in sales over the 2010 Christmas period.It claims a price drop to $499 kick-started strong sales in November which continued through Christmas and right up to the end of February. However they are not saying how much money they lost dumping stock into the market.

TiVo competes with Foxtel and the Malaysian-owned Fetch TV. Its market share grew from 18 percent in October to 29 percent in December, according to market watcher GfK data.

Last month HTS cut staff from 40 to 5 with former staff claiming that they “simply” selling out stock to clear inventories.