Digital Video Recorders

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.

Not so long ago, the broadcast networks trumpeted their 10 p.m. shows as "appointment viewing," an hour so named for its slate of sophisticated and stylish dramas that commanded a rapt audience who watched in real time. Today, audiences are still watching at 10 p.m., but often not what the networks programmed for that time slot. Instead, people are increasingly playing back recorded shows from their digital video recorders. "Essentially the DVR has been like adding a whole new competitor to the time period," said David Poltrack, CBS' chief research officer.

Dish Network Corp. said first-quarter earnings climbed to 70 cents a share, topping the 56-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales advanced 2.1% to $2.91 billion, in line with estimates. Average monthly bills rose 3.1% as Chief Executive Charlie Ergen charged more for programming and equipment such as digital video recorders. That helped Dish make up for subscriber losses, which reached 94,000 last quarter.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday blocked an effort by major media companies to quash a technology that threatens their already deteriorating advertising business. Plaintiffs including CBS, Fox, NBC Universal, Turner, Viacom and Walt Disney had asked the justices to reverse a lower-court ruling that allowed Cablevision Systems Corp.

The government will investigate a stealthy form of advertising in which products are featured on television shows as props and at times even woven into story lines. The Federal Communications Commission said it would consider rules to make it clear to viewers when brand-name products appear in shows in exchange for money. Spending on so-called "embedded advertising" has grown as advertisers look for new ways to reach viewers who flip channels during commercials or use digital video recorders such as TiVo to fast-forward past them.

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.'

WHEN IT COMES TO the entertainment industry, it seems that no revolutionary deed goes unpunished. Two Hollywood studios sued Sony when it brought out the first affordable home-video recorder in 1976, even though the VCR eventually created a huge new business for the studios. The music industry won a crippling injunction against the original Napster's groundbreaking file-sharing service, which introduced free (and illegal) downloading to the masses.

TiVo Inc. on Thursday said it had agreed to provide cable company Cox Communications Inc. with software for digital video recorders. The deal with Cox comes on the heels of TiVo's recent patent win against satellite TV broadcaster EchoStar Communications Corp., and further strengthens TiVo's hand against cable companies that provide their own DVRs to customers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Shares of Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo rose 50 cents to $7.68.

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.

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.

A federal court Tuesday ordered Dish Network Corp. to pay TiVo Inc. $103 million plus interest in damages for using a modified digital video recorder technology that it found to be in violation of TiVo's patent. U.S. District Judge David Folsom, of the Eastern District of Texas, found Dish, formerly EchoStar, to be in contempt of a permanent injunction on TiVo's DVR Time Warp technology, which lets viewers pause, rewind and fast-forward live shows.

Dish Network Corp. said first-quarter earnings climbed to 70 cents a share, topping the 56-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales advanced 2.1% to $2.91 billion, in line with estimates. Average monthly bills rose 3.1% as Chief Executive Charlie Ergen charged more for programming and equipment such as digital video recorders. That helped Dish make up for subscriber losses, which reached 94,000 last quarter.

On Oct. 9, a day the Dow dropped 679 points, TiVo Inc. deposited a check for $104.6 million. The company had just won a hard-fought battle against EchoStar Communications Inc., whose Dish Network digital video recorders were found by a federal jury to infringe TiVo's patents. "I think we were the only company doing high-fives that day," recalled TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers. TiVo, whose name has become synonymous with digital video recorders, is the comeback kid of technology.

In a decision sure to affect millions of cable television subscribers, a federal appeals court gave a green light to Cablevision Systems Corp.'s rollout of a remote-storage digital video recorder system. In overturning a lower court ruling that had blocked the service, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the judge wrongly concluded that Cablevision, rather than its customers, would be making copies of programs, thereby violating copyright laws. Cablevision's system was challenged by a group of Hollywood studios that claimed the remote-storage DVR service would amount to an unauthorized rebroadcast of their programs.

The government will investigate a stealthy form of advertising in which products are featured on television shows as props and at times even woven into story lines. The Federal Communications Commission said it would consider rules to make it clear to viewers when brand-name products appear in shows in exchange for money. Spending on so-called "embedded advertising" has grown as advertisers look for new ways to reach viewers who flip channels during commercials or use digital video recorders such as TiVo to fast-forward past them.

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.

What: ReplayTV A new type of idiot box for your TV called TiVo was reviewed in this space recently, and now we take a look at a competitor, ReplayTV. Both are digital video recorders manufactured by companies in Northern California. These recorders are the hot new craze in television and may someday replace the VCR. They are particularly useful for sports viewing. With a digital recorder, a hard drive is used to record programming instead of videotape. No more searching for an available tape.

EchoStar Communications Corp. won a court ruling Tuesday that allows the company to continue selling digital video recorders while it appeals rival TiVo Inc.'s victory in a patent case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit put on hold an order that EchoStar stop selling devices that compete with TiVo's and end DVR service for existing customers. A judge issued the order after TiVo won a jury trial in April. TiVo shares fell as much as 10% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

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."

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.