How good a year did TiVo have in recently closed fiscal year? The company turned a profit of $104 million, compared to a loss of $32 million for the previous year. And it did so during a time when consumer spending just about screeched to a halt.

Thomas Rogers, TiVo's CEO, told financial analysts during a conference call:

Fiscal 2009 was an impressive year for Tivo as it marked the most financially successful year in the history of the company. We recorded our first adjusted EBITDA and net income positive year and would have done so even without the EchoStar litigation proceeds.

In fact, we recorded our sixth straight quarter of adjusted EBITDA profitability and ended the year with a strong balance sheet of over $200 million in cash, no debt and improved cash flow. Certainly this is an enviable position to be in considering the current economic environment. More importantly, these results were achieved while maintaining our clear focus on advancing our long term growth drivers and future prospects.

The company did lose a small number of subscribers - - about 125,000 out of 3.3 million - - but it increased profitability in part through a small amount of belt-tightening.

Why is TiVo so successful in such a tough economic period? There are probably too many factors to list but consider that 1) it's a market leader 2) it's delivering a service that people find to be a must-have and 3) the tone of its executives certainly seems to be a tone without fear. It is also at relatively early stages of what could be critical relationships with companies like Netflix - relationships that could quickly and at low cost give it much better market coverage than it would otherwise have.

This is certainly a period of time when anything can go wrong for anyone, but TiVo seems to be talking like it expects much more to go right.