Big company customers can be a double-edged sword for small suppliers, as cable TV software group Mirada Plc (LON:MIRA) seems to be finding out at present.
Trying to describe what Mirada does succinctly is not easy, but TV-on-the-go is as good a description as any.
TV-on-the-go
Mirada's technology enables TV operators to offer their clients advanced Electronic Programme Guides (EPGs) plus many high-end features such an as advanced search engine, smart recommendations, video on demand and several other “over the top” (OTT) options to access additional content.
Iris, its state-of-the-art “TV everywhere” proposition, is a multi-screen solution that merges the best of traditional broadcast and OTT services, presenting an easy-to-use, unified user experience across multiple devices, whether they be set-top boxes, desktop computers or mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets.
In short, your mobile phone or tablet effectively becomes the TV’s remote control.
And when it says "TV Everywhere", it means it.
The solution enables content to be viewed across set-top boxes, smartphones and tablets, with all of them working seamlessly through Mirada's state-of-the-art Inspire user interface.
Mirada also looks after the back-end with the Iris service delivery platform that enables content providers to serve up media how and when customers want it.
Izzi a bit bumpy at present
Iris is currently being rolled out across five channels for izzi Telecom, part of the Mexican media giant Televisa, but so far it’s not been the smooth ride that was hoped.
A recent update said subscriber numbers in Mexico had picked up with the peso's rally and an easing of the economic uncertainty that followed the election of US President Donald Trump.
READ: Televisa rollout delays to hit profits at Mirada
Izzi Telecom had blamed the uncertain economic backdrop for a slowing of a roll-out of the Iris product .
That prompted a profit warning from Mirada in December but with Televisa having also now carried out a quality assurance programme, the pace of the roll-out was said to be steady again in August.
Invoice clarity
If this is translating into regular payments is not clear as Mirada had to clarify that the Mexican broadcaster had not handed over US$1.3m for orders that came through mostly in 2017.
In fact, the money came from an invoice factor process, not from Televisa a later statement said.
Following that cash receipt, net debt at 31 July was £5.91mln, with available facilities of £1.21m and cash in hand of £0.46mln.
Mirada said it expected the financial position to look better when Televisa paid up but perhaps unsurprisingly it has started to look at other ways to generate income, specifically to broaden the income streams, boost recurring monthly revenues and improve its competitiveness in the market.
Sales pipeline ‘materially larger’
There is a good base to work with. Some 750,000 Televisa set-top boxes now contain Mirada software and the sales pipeline is ‘materially larger’ than in prior years due to a substantial increase in marketing activity over the past fifteen months.
Around a quarter of the new households with Mirada technology have also installed OTT (over the top) services.
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