I may not be blogging here like I used to, maybe again someday, but I’m still out there active online. I participate a lot on the TiVo Facebook fan page and I still maintain the TiVoCentral Yahoo Group and TiVo Lovers LJ Community. Anyway, as a result of my participation in the Facebook fan page, and in particular due to my responses to a recent question posed by TiVo, I was asked if I’d be interested in writing a guest post for the official TiVo Blog – and it went up today.

The responses to TiVo’s question, what button would you add to the TiVo remote, were full of requests for things that are already in there – but perhaps aren’t as well documented as they could be. The post is a compilation of tips & tricks that many experienced TiVo users may already know, but that I’ve seen over and over through the years surprise users who didn’t know they were in there – even users who’ve had TiVo for years.

Things like the TiVo+number shortcuts, controlling the power on your TV and A/V receiver at the same time, 30-second skip, etc. If you’re reading this a lot of the things in that post may be old hat to you, but maybe you’ll learn a tip or trick you weren’t aware of. That’s my hope anyway, that the post will help people find new ways to use their TiVo. And if you have a tip or trick that I didn’t list, leave a comment over there so others can learn from your wisdom.

That’s one of the things I’ve always liked about the community of TiVo users – the willingness to help other users.

Yeah, I’m not dead. And I haven’t forgotten about this site, still hoping to come back to it someday. Just thought this was a good deal to share with anyone still out there.

What’s been eating my life now? I started a new job – Enterprise Network Engineer with F5 Networks – March 1st, and there is a steep learning curve so that’s eating a lot of my energy. Great job, and we’re hiring more ENEs, and other positions, and we do employee referrals. Just sayin’…. And, somehow, I managed to get into a relationship last fall and amazingly she still seems to want to spend time with me. So some of my old blogging time in spent on trying to be a good partner. (Well, not *too* sorry, though I do miss blogging.)

See you again… someday.

And yes, I still hope to get back to posting regularly someday.

“By teaming with SeaChange we are enabling cable operators without OCAP/tru2way deployment plans to increase the breadth and depth of their offering by quickly deploying TiVo set-top boxes that seamlessly integrate VOD in a single, intuitive TiVo interface,” said Tom Rogers, TiVo’s president and chief executive officer. “This solution also enables participating MSOs to take their on-demand offering to a whole new level by highlighting VOD titles within TiVo universal search results. And the beauty of this is that it can be achieved faster and at a lower cost than most solutions that have been available to cable operators to date.”

However, comments made by Tom Rogers at the Deutsche Bank Securities Media and Telecommunications Conference it sounds like this may be included in the retail products as well. Though I’d presume that it would only work with cable MSOs that are using a SeaChange VOD head-end. He also indicated that this would be a relatively short term development, though that’s relative in relation to other major development efforts.

The release explicitly mentions the TiVo HD, and doesn’t mention the original TiVo Series3, but that could just be marketing. The TiVo HD is the current product, and what everyone is focused on – and certainly what any cable MSO would be provided at this time. If it this feature is added to the retail products, and I hope it will, it could show up on the S3. I’m presuming that this implementation will use the Tuning Adapter, currently used for SDV support, to handle the upstream communication required for VOD/PPV as well.

No matter how it is implemented, this is a good thing. Once a working implementation exists, it tends to get a foot in the door, and hopefully more cable MSOs will sign on to support VOD on TiVo. After all, it is revenue for them.

Why is this significant? Well, based on the press release I think this signals a coming push by TiVo to leverage the work done for the Comcast & Cox deployments in the US to bring the TiVo interface to an assortment of set-top boxes worldwide:

“Teaming with Alticast allows global video providers to offer the unique combination of TiVo’s award winning user interface, advertising solutions, and broadband television functionality on set top boxes running Alticast’s industry standard embedded software for ITV applications,” said Joshua Danovitz, Vice President and GM of International at TiVo. “We hear from cable, satellite and IPTV operators around the world that they want better middleware solutions capable of quickly bringing TiVo applications to market and Alticast is in the pole position to fulfill this need. We look forward to their cooperation in making the TiVo experience available on a broad range of platforms, both in the United States and around the world, similar to the way that we have developed platforms for Comcast and Cox.”

I’ve been saying this for a while, that having the OCAP/tru2way version of the TiVo system could have an impact far beyond the US cable market. Having a portable implementation will allow TiVo to partner with hardware vendors and service providers worldwide. Working with Alticast should help get TiVo in the door, as well as smoothing the implementation issues. As TiVo has said that all tru2way cable DVRs in the US are potential TiVo systems, now, in theory, any DVR running MHP, or combo Blu-ray/DVR units, are potential TiVo systems.

Mr. Cella, age 58, currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Cella Group LLC, a firm he founded in 2008 which provides media sales representation, consultations in media, as well as sport and entertainment representation, to leading companies. Prior to that, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MAGNA Global Worldwide, a media negotiation, research and programming unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies. Prior to that, Mr. Cella held the position at of Executive Vice President, Director of Broadcast and Programming for Universal McCann North America, where he was responsible for over $2 billion of national broadcast time on network, cable and syndicated television. He began his career at ABC where he worked for 15 years, first as an account executive for WXYZ-TV in Detroit later rising to the position of Vice President of Sports Sales for ABC Television Network. Mr. Cella was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2007.

Following the Superbowl, TiVo released their usual summary of ad viewership. The graph to the right (click for larger version) uses TiVo Stop||Watch data to track viewership on a second-by-second basis. When viewers rewind a section and repeat it this is additive and increases the total viewership. Note that most of the spikes during the first half came during advertisements, while in the second half most of the spikes came during the game itself.

TiVo, of course, put out a full press release with all of the details. Former top ad the E-Trade talking baby was dethroned, not even placing in the top ten this year, while GoDaddy.com jumped to the top spot for the first time.

The top ten rated commercials of this year’s game were:

1. GoDaddy.com: “Enhanced?”
2. Bud Light: “Summer to Winter”
3. Careerbuilder.com: “It May Be Time”
4. Doritos: “Crystal Ball”
5. Transformers: “Revenge of the Fallen”
6. Monster.com: “Moose Head”
7. Bud Light: “Man Thrown out the Window”
8. Pepsi: “MacGruber/Pepsuber”
9. Dennys: “Thugs”
10. Coke Zero: “Mr Polamalu”

See the full release for more.

Back on 1/21/09 TiVo dropped a press release about their Stop||Watch service for the end of 2008. I didn’t find it very surprising – people do a lot of tiemshifting for primetime programs, and even more during sweeps. The latter makes total sense to me – channels cram popular shows into sweeps periods, which creates more conflicts, which makes people even more likely to timeshift content to be able to watch programs that aired simultaneously. During the sweeps weeks in May and October, 54% of primetime content was timeshifted. During the summer months (June-August), timeshifting dropped to 40% – likely due to the dearth of new content.

See the full press release for more data and analysis.

HAVA, from Monsoon Multimedia, is the primary competition to Sling Media’s Slingbox. HAVA has some features not found on Slingboxes – such as supporting multicast on a LAN (multiple, simultaneous clients), officially supporting recording on PCs, working as a tuner within Windows Media Center, learning new IR codes, and more. Additionally, all HAVA Mobile clients are free, unlike SlingPlayer Mobile. However, the HAVA products tend to be less polished than Sling, and little rougher around the edges. While Sling has clients for Windows and Mac OS, and mobile clients for Windows Mobile Standard & Professional, Symbian S60 & UIQ, Palm OS, and BlackBerry, HAVA Player is available only for Windows, Windows Mobile Standard & Professional, Symbian S60, and Maemo (the Linux flavor on Nokia N810 Internet tablets).

Sling has submitted their iPhone client to Apple, while HAVA demo’d an early version of their iPhone client at CES, so they’ll hopefully be submitting that soon. HAVA is also apparently developing a client for Mac OS. So as long as you have a supported platform, it could work fine for you.

Good luck!

You know, if HAVA really wants to compete with Sling, they should probably go after markets where Sling isn’t yet – like Android and Linux desktops. And since all HAVA boxes stream in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/H.264, while Slingboxes stream in WMV/VC-1 (except the PRO-HD which also supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/H.264), and Flash video supports H.264, they might be able to put out a Flash-based client. A Flash client would be a killer app. Release a reference implementation and open-source it – widespread client availability would sell hardware.

Also, since they give away their clients for free, unlike Sling, they’d have nothing to lose by getting HAVA Player built into things like Boxee, VLC, the Roku Digital video Player, etc. Maybe even TiVo – since Sling Media parent EchoStar and TiVo are still slugging it out in court, and EchoStar is adding placeshifting to DISH DVRs and cable boxes, TiVo could use HAVA to respond.

But that’s a tangent and maybe I should just do a whole post on my thoughts on the placeshifting market.

Unrelated, sorry I haven’t been posting. I thought I’d be jumping back in when I posted a few weeks ago, but I underestimated just how draining the job hunting process can be. The good news is I’ve accepted an offer and should be back to work soon. The only downside is that the job is in Somerville, MA, and I live in Worcester, MA, so I’ll have a commute of about an hour each way. But I’ll be working 3rd shift, so traffic shouldn’t be bad, and I’m happy about the job itself.

So, you may have noticed that things have been pretty quiet around here for the past couple of months. I’ve received a few inquiries about just what’s going on and if I’d ever resume posting, etc. The short answer is yes, and I’m going to be trying to get back into the swing of things now, though it may take a little while to get back to speed.

What happened? Well, as I posted back in January, I’m having some problems with my left hand. Since that post I have had an EMG, and it confirmed what my doctor suspected all along – something is wrong with the ulnar nerve. My left pinky and ring finger, and part of the hand, are still numb. But it has been a few months and I’m adapting to it, so typing isn’t the struggle it was at first. I’m waiting for a neurology appointment and I’m still hopeful the issue can be fixed in the end.

But that was just the first in a chain of events. I posted that on January 20th, and my blogging was a bit lighter in the days that followed as I was still struggling with typing and most of what I could manage was devoted to work. However, that soon changed – I lost my job with Sling Media on February 2nd. The short version is that I was participating in discussions at SlingCommunity.com and I posted something I didn’t think was an issue in the context of the thread, and it probably would’ve been nothing – just a small post in a discussion forum. Except it got picked up by a popular blog (which I won’t name since I don’t really blame them, as a blogger I’ve done similar things in the past) and excerpted out of context, and from there a bunch of other blogs picked it up, and before I knew it it was a major issue for management – and as a result I lost my job. I was completely blindsided by this, and I’m still out of work and trying to find a new position. I hope I can do so soon, I really can’t remain unemployed for long financially. (BTW, my resume is here.)

This was a pretty big punch in the gut, and, honestly, it put me into a pretty bad depression. Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve lost a job. I’ve been laid off a couple of times, but in those cases it was a company-wide thing and there were huge signs that it was coming, so it was expected and I was ready. In this case I was completely unprepared for it. I really loved working for Sling, loved the people there, and believed in the products, so it was very hard to have that end. My job with Sling was my favorite job, ever, and it will be very hard to find anything like it again. I really saw myself working there for a long time. I’m also the kind of person who really puts my all into my job, and I invest a lot of myself in my work. A good deal of my self-identity tends to stem from my work and my accomplishments therein. So my emotional reaction to losing the job was as if someone I cared for had died – it hit me pretty hard. And with the economy as it is, it is not a good time to be looking, so that’s amped up the stress a bit.

The timing was also bad because I had a previously planned trip to visit my family from 2/14 to 3/1. I would’ve been blogging less, if at all, during that trip anyway as it was a vacation and time to visit my folks. But it also meant I couldn’t really start looking for a new position right away as I would not be able to interview, let alone start, until after the trip. And, honestly, the depressed mood I was in was not conducive to constructive job hunting anyway. I just didn’t have it in me to keep blogging during that time, my head was elsewhere. And I was still angry and frustrated over losing my job, so I didn’t really trust myself to post about it in that state. I tried to keep participating in Sling Community for a short time, but I realized it was like salting the wound at the time and it was better to walk away, at least for now. I still care about the user community, so I may jump back in once things are more settled.

The upside was that I forced myself to pretty much ignore everything in my life for a couple of weeks and enjoy the time with my folks in Florida. We also took a few days to go up to Walt Disney World, and if you want a place to ignore life, you could do worse than Disney. So the trip gave me some time and distance from everything else, which is also why I deliberately didn’t do anything related to tech, blogging, or work. (Well, except for my usual annual IT service for my folk’s PCs, but that’s family. And I could do that in my sleep.) After returning home on 3/2 of course I had a number of things to deal with – doctors, unemployment paperwork, COBRA, starting to look for a new position in earnest, and just generally pick up my life. I’m pretty much back on top of things now and my mood is a lot better, though not quite fully recovered, so I’m picking up the blogging reigns as well.

I’ve been largely out of the loop – I completely stopped reading blogs as well as posting. I needed a break from things to deal with everything – but I’ve been saving emails and the like to work my way through. Right now finding a new job is my first priority, but I miss blogging and I figure it’ll probably be good for me to keep my brain in shape anyway.

Oh, and I’m not too proud to beg – since I’m unemployed even a little bit helps, so if you’re planning to make any purchases using the site’s affiliate links will provide a little something.

Thanks again for sticking with me through the drought, and I hope to be back to my old post volume soon. I wish I could make a living doing this, but that’s not going to happen real soon. I’m the meantime, wish me luck.

New KoldCast shows added to the lineup are Average Betty and In The Can. According to a KoldCast press release there are more shows coming to TiVoCast: The Crew, The Hayley Project, Invention with Brian Forbes, and Miles & Ben. More details are in the release.

Also joining the TiVoCast lineup, and not from KoldCast are Entertainment Weekly and National Geographic Channel.

Unfortunately, it looks like jPod was dropped from the TheWB.com shows available via TiVoCast. Shame, I really enjoyed that one.

With all of these shoes you can subscribe online or on your TiVo via TiVo Central -> Video on Demand -> Browse free videos -> All

So typing is difficult, frustrating, and at times painful. Since I have to do a lot of typing for work, and work is more important (sorry, but it pays the bills), I’ve been focused mainly on that and not doing a lot of additional typing. I do have additional items from CES I want to cover, for example I talked to HAVA on the last day, and I will try to get to it soon. I’m slowly getting a bit better at typing with my gimpy left hand as I get more practice.

As far as I know I didn’t do anything to cause this. It just happened all of a sudden the Wednesday before CES opened. Maybe I slept on it wrong or something, I have no idea. It wasn’t as bad at first and I thought it might go away, but the more I tried to keep working normally the more it seemed to be aggravated.

So my apologies for the lack of posts lately, I’m hoping to get back to normal once this is fixed. Presuming it can be fixed of course and isn’t permanent, which I’m rather hoping it isn’t.

Well, apparently that didn’t go according to plan; Circuit City announced today that it would seek permission from the bankruptcy court to switch to a straight-up liquidation of its remaining assets. The 500-plus U.S. stores that survived the November cutbacks will be closed, putting more than 30,000 people out of work. (Apparently the CC-branded stores in Canada will stay open; must be operated by a separate company.)

Circuit City joins a growing list of retail chains (Tweeter Etc., CompUSA, Office Depot) that have taken ill or bought the farm altogether in recent years, killed off by a combination of the generally failing economy, their core business moving online, and, in Circuit City’s case, monumental management screw-ups (e.g., sacking most of their actually-knowledgeable sales staff and replacing them with clueless teenage biscuits straight out of central casting). There is supposedly a nonzero chance that it may live on as an online brand, but I don’t know as I’d bet the ranch on that. It is survived by its chief (and now largely uncontested) competitor, Best Buy.

Details below in the press release:

kwiry Makes Your Life Even Simpler; Adds New Text Message Shortcuts and Facebook Connect Integration

Free Mobile and Online Service Adds more text messaging services: TiVo Scheduling, Yelp results, and more; Integrates with Facebook Connect to let users simply import their social graph.

San Francisco, Calif., January 14, 2009 — kwiry, the company that helps you text it before you forget it, today further enhanced its free service that turns text messages into helpful online reminders. kwiry’s latest additions to its recently launched Shortcuts platform include the ability to schedule a TV show recording on a TiVo® DVR. kwiry launched its Shortcuts service in August with Netflix and Amazon integrations.

As an example, if a co-worker raves about the latest episode of a TV show, simply text “TiVo” followed by the TV program title (e.g. “TiVo the office” to kwiry’s Text Messaging shortcode, 59479 (k-w-i-r-y). kwiry automatically schedules the next episode of the show to be recorded on your TiVo DVR. No need to rush home or remember to schedule it on your computer. The service complements other ways for TiVo subscribers to schedule their TiVo box while on the go including the TiVo Mobile web site. kwiry’s service extends TiVo scheduling to all cell phones with text messaging capabilities with no need for a browser or a data plan. With a one-time account link, all TiVo Series2™ and Series3™ DVR users can have the capability to instantly schedule a recording whenever and wherever they want.

“kwiry Shortcuts like Netflix have been very popular with new and existing users – we’ve had many requests for new Shortcuts and are excited about the new integrations with popular services like TiVo and Yelp,” said kwiry Co-founder and CEO Ron Feldman.

kwiry’s has recently added the following new Shortcuts to its free service:

• TiVo (beta): Text “tivo the office” to schedule a recording of the next episode to your TiVo DVR.
• Yelp: Text “yelp Grimaldis Pizza” and get contact info, reviews and more from Yelp sent to your e-mail inbox.
• Contact Info: Text “contact johndoe@gmail.com” to email contact info and vCard attachment while on the go.
• Status Updates: Text “status headed to the gym” and kwiry will update your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts.

kwiry has now also integrated with Facebook Connect, allowing people to sign-in to kwiry.com with their Facebook accounts, instantly adding their Facebook profile info to kwiry and allowing connections to their Facebook Friends.

“The integration with Facebook Connect simplifies the kwiry sign-up process and allows users to integrate the social aspects of Facebook into the kwiry website as well as the kwiry experience into Facebook,” Feldman continued.

About kwiry
Text it before you forget it! kwiry is a free productivity service that turns text messages, emails, voice calls, or photos into online reminders. Users simply text anything to 59479 and search results are automatically delivered to their own email, kwiry page or favorite Web start-page. Users can share kwirys with friends, offering a great way to see what others are discovering. And, integration with services like Netflix, TiVo, Amazon and Yelp and calendars such as Outlook, iCal, and Google Calendar helps keep busy people on track.

Founded in October 2006, kwiry is funded by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners in San Francisco. Visit http://www.kwiry.com today to stop forgetting and start texting.

Trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Press Contact:
Ron Feldman
pr@kwiry.com
415-267-0991

Blockbuster is partnering with Sonic to bring Blockbuster branded video services to consumers, including the existing CinemaNow content service. It sounds like win-win for Blockbuster and Sonic. Blockbuster gets a successful service which already has a number of deals with consumer electronics vendors, which Sonic gets the Blockbuster brand, which is still a fairly strong brand in the video rental market. It is also a pretty good deal for the CE vendors who have already made deals to bring CinemaNow content to their devices, as they get the strong Blockbuster brand.

I wonder if we’ll be seeing the Blockbuster brand on TiVo, since they currently use CinemaNow for Disney content, and more content is expected.

Jan 14, 2009 00:00 ET

Blockbuster and Sonic Solutions Team for Internet Movie Delivery

Alliance to give consumers instant access to Blockbuster digital movie service across extensive range of home and portable devices

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. and DALLAS, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) (NYSE:BBI.B) , a global leader in entertainment, and Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ:SNIC) , the leading technology and service provider for premium movie content, today announced an alliance to give consumers access to a vast library of premium digital entertainment across a wide assortment of home and mobile electronic devices. Under the multi-year, preferred-provider agreement, Blockbuster will supply the branded consumer interfaces and Sonic will power content delivery across PC and consumer electronic devices.

The two companies are collaborating with a host of consumer electronic (CE) manufacturers, including Sonic’s existing CinemaNow providers, to expand the ecosystem of interoperable devices offering the Blockbuster service. These devices include PCs, portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected television sets. Additionally, the two companies will make their digital libraries of mainstream content available under the Blockbuster brand resulting in one of the most expansive VOD (video on demand) and EST (electronic sell-through) offerings in the marketplace.

“We are excited to be partnering with Sonic, the industry’s leading entertainment delivery and technology provider, to make Blockbuster’s digital entertainment service easily and instantly available to consumers through the widest range of devices available in the marketplace,” said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster Chairman and CEO. “Blockbuster is a ubiquitous entertainment presence in the physical world. Through this alliance with Sonic, we plan to become a ubiquitous presence in the digital world as well. Our goal is to offer consumers the most digital content, the most accessibility, via the most devices, both in- and out of home.”

Sonic’s device ecosystem, powered by its new CinemaNow™ SDK (software development kit), will help streamline the introduction of Blockbuster’s digital entertainment service into a wide variety of consumer electronic devices, both Mac- and Windows-enabled, via adaptive streaming and progressive download. The devices will be sold through Blockbuster retail stores, blockbuster.com and other leading retailers.

“With more and more broadband-enabled consumer electronics hitting the market, there is a growing need for a service that gives consumers access to premium entertainment on any device, anytime and anywhere,” said Dave Habiger, president and CEO, Sonic Solutions. “By pairing Sonic’s digital delivery technology with Blockbuster’s trusted brand and library of content, we enable any CE manufacturer to add an impressive digital movie service to its product offerings and in doing so, create the most flexible digital entertainment service for consumers.”

About Blockbuster

Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE:BBI) (NYSE:BBI.B) is a leading global provider of in-home and portable movie and game entertainment, with more than 7,500 stores throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Company may be accessed worldwide at www.blockbuster.com.

About Sonic Solutions

Sonic Solutions® (NASDAQ: SNIC; http://www.sonic.com/) enables the creation, management, and enjoyment of premium and personal digital media content through its Hollywood to Home™ products, services, and technologies. Sonic’s products range from the advanced authoring systems used to produce Hollywood DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles to the award-winning Roxio®-branded photo, video, music, and digital-media management applications, field-proven SDKs and services. Sonic’s Premium Content Group, which includes CinemaNow, is helping provide consumers convenient access to Hollywood entertainment for download and enjoyment on a broad range of digital devices. Sonic Solutions is headquartered in Marin County, California.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward looking statements that are based upon current expectations, including the market acceptance and success of the alliance between Blockbuster and Sonic Solutions. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties. This press release should be read in conjunction with Blockbuster’s and Sonic Solutions’ most recent annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly Forms 10-Q and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain a more detailed discussion of each company’s business including risks and uncertainties that may affect future results. Neither Blockbuster nor Sonic Solutions undertakes to update any forward looking statements.

Sonic, the Sonic logo, Sonic Solutions, Roxio, the Roxio logo, CinemaNow, and Hollywood to Home are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Sonic Solutions in the United States and/or other countries. Blockbuster, the Blockbuster logo, blockbuster.com and Blockbuster Online are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Blockbuster Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

All other company or product names are trademarks of their respective owners and, in some cases, are used under license. Specifications, pricing and delivery schedules are subject to change without notice.

Source: Blockbuster Inc.; Sonic Solutions

CONTACT: Karen Raskopf, karen.raskopf@blockbuster.com, or Randy
Hargrove, randy.hargrove@blockbuster.com, both of Blockbuster Inc.,
+1-214-854-3190; or Chris Taylor of Sonic Solutions, +1-408-367-5231,
chris_taylor@sonic.com

Web Site: http://www.blockbuster.com/
http://www.sonic.com/

DISH Network Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) and EchoStar Corporation (Nasdaq: SATS) issued the following statement regarding recent developments in the TiVo Inc. v. EchoStar Communications Corp. lawsuit:

“We are pleased that the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) granted our Petition for Re-Examination of the software claims of TiVo’s ‘389 patent, which are the subject of TiVo’s current motion for contempt. The PTO found that there is a ’substantial new question’ of patentability as to the software claims in light of prior patents that appear to render TiVo’s ‘389 patent invalid as obvious.”

And TiVo responded with their own statement:

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television products and services for digital video recorders (DVR), offered the following statement today regarding the decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine the software claims of TiVo’s Time Warp Patent:

“EchoStar filed its latest request for reexamination after TiVo asked the United States District Court to hold EchoStar in contempt of the Court’s injunction requiring EchoStar to disable its DVR functionality. An evidentiary hearing on the contempt issues is scheduled to be held on February 17 and 18, 2009.

“EchoStar’s latest tactic follows numerous failed attempts to invalidate TiVo’s groundbreaking Time Warp patent. In 2006, the District Court rejected all of EchoStar’s validity challenges after a full jury trial and the judgment of validity was affirmed by the Federal Circuit in 2008. The USPTO also conducted a prior reexamination of the Time Warp Patent at EchoStar’s request, which concluded on November 11, 2008, with the USPTO issuing a Reexamination Certificate confirming the validity of all of the claims of the Time Warp Patent without any change. EchoStar’s latest request for reexamination is based on a combination of two prior art references that were both already submitted to the USPTO in connection with the earlier reexamination. The USPTO grants most patent reexamination requests. Contrary to EchoStar’s statement, the USPTO made no substantive findings. We are confident that the USPTO will once again confirm the validity of all of the claims of the Time Warp patent.”

Round and round we go…