Digital Video Recorders

TiVo Inc., the pioneer of digital TV recording, reached agreements to offer its video services to Comcast Corp.'s cable TV customers and to distribute music from RealNetworks Inc. Comcast, the biggest U.S. cable company, will add TiVo features to existing set-top boxes and charge a fee for the added service, the companies said. RealNetworks' Rhapsody music service will be offered this year, Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo said.

Cablevision Systems Corp. has lost a legal battle against several Hollywood studios and television networks to introduce a network-based digital video recorder service to its subscribers. The cable operator said late Thursday that it was considering an appeal against the ruling by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York. Cablevision was sued last May by several Hollywood studios and television networks, including those owned by Time Warner Inc., News Corp., CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co.

Verizon Communications Inc. said it was working with Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. on a way to schedule programs for recording by using the Web. Customers of Verizon's TV service, called FiOS, will be able to remotely set their digital video recorders using TV Guide listings, Hollywood-based Gemstar said. New York-based Verizon signed a patent agreement with Gemstar to use programming guides and related technology.

TiVo Inc. lost part and won part of a regulatory review of its digital video recording patent that's at the center of its lawsuit against EchoStar Communications Corp. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected aspects of the patent that covered hardware for recording the movies and television shows while upholding parts that cover software to run the system. The decision is subject to review by a board within the agency.

ONE week into the fall TV season, and we already have some notions about which prime-time series are likely to stick around for a while. "Bionic Woman" and "Private Practice" look like hits. "Gossip Girl" and "K-Ville"? Not so much. Don't cry yet, though -- your favorite underperforming new show may not necessarily be headed for the same fate as Josie Maran on "Dancing With the Stars."

Satellite broadcaster DirecTV Group Inc. said its third-quarter earnings slipped on higher costs, but revenue rose 18% from more customers and demand for high-definition and digital video recorder services. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the El Segundo-based company reported that net income fell 14% to $319 million, or 27 cents a share, from $370 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier. Revenue surged to $4.33 billion from $3.67 billion in the quarter a year earlier.

TiVo Inc. said Thursday that it won a victory in a regulatory ruling on its digital video recording patents, halting a key challenge by satellite television operator EchoStar Communications Corp. to TiVo's intellectual property claims. The decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office validates a set of TiVo's "time warp" patents covering technology that lets TiVo's boxes record, pause and rewind live television.

Scientific-Atlanta Inc., Motorola Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. will benefit most from projected gains in digital video recorder sales by 2010, an independent study said. Sales of the recording devices and related software and services will more than triple to $1.3 billion in 2010, said the study released Monday by Carmel Group, a consultant. Digital video recorder revenue totaled $375 million in 2005, Carmel analyst Sean Badding said.

"Point-and-shoot" is not a term I associate with digital camcorders. When I try out a new one, the pointing and shooting usually has to wait until I take a few moments to learn the basic controls. If the video camera doesn't have its memory disk or tape installed, add several more minutes. And if I have to consult the manual, tack on at least an hour. So much for instant memories.

A federal appeals court temporarily blocked a trial judge's order that EchoStar Communications Corp., parent of the Dish satellite-TV service, disable more than 3 million digital video recorders. The appeals court blocked an injunction issued Thursday by a federal district judge in Texarkana, Ark. The injunction stemmed from a jury decision in April that EchoStar infringed Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo Inc.'