TiVo, Comcast cut deal

TiVo will make a customized version for Comcast cable subscribers, the two companies announced March 15, 2005. The deal calls for TiVo to adapt its software to work on Comcast's existing DVR platform, and it allows TiVo to extend to Comcast subscribers the advertising it sells in the form of interactive video clips that automatically appear in the TiVo menu.

UPDATE:

Littleton, Colorado-based EchoStar Communications goes to trial in Texas the week of October 10, 2005 to defend itself against claims of patent infringement by TiVo over digital video recording.

TiVo alleges that EchoStar -- which operates the satellite T-V Dish Network -- unfairly used its technology to build a digital video recorder, which allows viewers to pause live T-V and skip commercials.

If TiVo has its way, EchoStar would have to pay unspecified damages and might have to modify its satellite receivers. If TiVo wins, it could use the decision as a precedent to sue other companies that have introduced technologies similar to its so-called time-warp, which allows viewers to record one program while recording another.

TiVo was founded in 1997 and introduced the first digital video recorder. EchoStar followed up in 1999 with its own version.