AT&T has settled a patent lawsuit with TiVo in which it will pay the DVR vendor $215 million through June 2018, including an initial payment of $51 million. AT&T will also pay “incremental recurring per subscriber monthly license fees” to TiVo through July 2018 if its subscriber base surpasses a certain level, TiVo said in a statement Wednesday. AT&T and TiVo were locked in a patent battle after AT&T began to market its own digital video recorder using a technology patented by TiVo. TiVo also recently settled similar lawsuits with Dish Network and EchoStar Corp. Read on for more.

“We are extremely pleased to reach an agreement with AT&T, which acknowledges the value of our intellectual property,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “This settlement, on the heels of our recent operational success that has resulted in the growth of TiVo’s overall subscriber base, is another major accomplishment for TiVo and we believe a great outcome for our shareholders. The combination of guaranteed payments and future additional fees paid to TiVo in the event that AT&T’s pay TV business continues to grow in-line with consensus analyst expectations, represents hard-earned compensation for our IP enforcement efforts.”

Rogers continued, “The settlement also provides us rights to innovate TiVo products and services under license from AT&T and allows us to avoid significant legal expenses that we expect would have been incurred by us during and after trial.” TiVo’s full press release follows below.

TiVo Announces Settlement of Patent Litigation With AT&T; TiVo and AT&T Enter Into a Patent Licensing Arrangement

ALVISO, CA — (Marketwire) — 01/03/2012 — TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) announced today that it has settled its pending patent litigation with AT&T and that the companies have entered into a mutual patent licensing arrangement. Under the terms of the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay TiVo an initial payment of $51 million, followed by recurring quarterly guaranteed payments through June 2018, totaling $164 million, which together yield minimum payments of $215 million. In addition to these minimum payments, AT&T will pay incremental recurring per subscriber monthly license fees through July 2018 should AT&T’s DVR subscriber base exceed certain levels.

As part of the settlement, TiVo and AT&T agreed to dismiss all pending litigation between the companies with prejudice. The parties also entered into a cross license of their respective patent portfolios in the advanced television field.

“We are extremely pleased to reach an agreement with AT&T, which acknowledges the value of our intellectual property,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo. “This settlement, on the heels of our recent operational success that has resulted in the growth of TiVo’s overall subscriber base, is another major accomplishment for TiVo and we believe a great outcome for our shareholders. The combination of guaranteed payments and future additional fees paid to TiVo in the event that AT&T’s pay TV business continues to grow in-line with consensus analyst expectations, represents hard-earned compensation for our IP enforcement efforts. The settlement also provides us rights to innovate TiVo products and services under license from AT&T and allows us to avoid significant legal expenses that we expect would have been incurred by us during and after trial.”

In what may be one of the largest digital security breaches in United States history, millions of customer email addresses have been exposed as a result of a breach at Epsilon. BGR reported on Saturday that TiVo customer email adresses had been compromised as a result of unauthorized access to online marketing company Epsilon’s servers. Following that report, several other companies have come forward to confirm that their customers’ email adresses may have been exposed. Those potentially affected include customers enrolled in Best Buy’s Reward Zone program as well as customers of Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, TiVo, Barclays, Walgreens, U.S. Bancorp, Capital One, HSN and College Board, which represents almost 6,000 different U.S. colleges and universities. “A subset of Epsilon clients’ customer data were exposed by an unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s email system,” Epsilon said in a statement last week. The company insists that only names and email addresses may have been compromised, and that sensitive information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers and passwords were not accessed.

It’s always nice when an email service that contains customer’s personal and private email addresses is hacked. TiVo has publicly disclosed that their email service provider, Epsilon, had customer’s names and email addresses released to “unauthorized” people. TiVo hasn’t disclosed how many emails were accessed in the security breach, but does note that the information was limited to email addresses and possibly customer’s names. The company is advising notified customers to be careful opening any emails from unknown third parties. Nice.

Thanks, preppy17!

Here’s a bit of good news: Hulu has just announced that its Hulu Plus premium subscription service will shed $2 from its monthly price tag. As the press release reads: “The monthly price for Hulu Plus moving forward is just $7.99. Any current subscribers who joined during our preview period will receive a credit for the difference from the $9.99 preview price. This credit will automatically be applied to their next billing cycle.”

But the juice doesn’t stop there.  Hulu has also announced the following promotions:

• One free week trials for all new subscribers. In addition, current subscribers who joined during the preview period will receive a credit for one week of Hulu Plus toward their next month’s subscription.
• Two free weeks of Hulu Plus for both current subscribers and friends they invite through our referral program. Subscribers can learn more by clicking on the “Referrals” tab on their Hulu profile page.
• 11 weeks ($20 worth) of free Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Sony BRAVIA connected TV or Blu-ray player through January 31, 2011. (See sony.com/huluplus.)
• One free month of Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Roku device through December 15, 2010. (See roku.com/hulu.)

The release also notes that the service is launching on Roku today and will be coming to “Internet-connected Vizio, LG Electronics, and Panasonic Blu-ray players and HDTVs; TiVo Premiere DVRs; the Xbox 360; and Western Digital’s WD TV Live Hub Media Center and WD TV Live Plus Network Media Player,” in the coming months. Updates to the Hulu Plus iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Samsung, and PlayStation 3 players will be made available this week.

Anyone reconsidering Hulu Plus after the price drop?

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You heard that correctly, folks. TiVo has begun plans to subsidize their DVR hardware with a monthly fee. The Premiere is available for free with a 2 year commitment and $20 monthly fee, but is also available for $99 which requires only a year-long arrangement. The TiVo Premiere XL rings up at $299 with a one year commitment if you just can’t pass up some THX-certified recorded shows. TiVo had been experimenting with these plans on and off for the last week, but as of now, they are available to everyone directly from TiVo’s website.

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In a seemingly coordinated strike, Roku and TiVo both announced the availability of Hulu Plus streaming content via their respective set-top boxes. TiVo writes that they have, “teamed with Hulu to provide TiVo Premiere DVR subscribers with access to the full-array of Hulu Plus content streamed instantly to their TVs. The Hulu Plus channel will be available to all TiVo Premiere customers in the coming months.” Like the Roku offering, a Hulu Plus subscription — $9.99 per month — is required. The full press release is after the break.

TiVo Will Offer Hulu Plus on TiVo Premiere DVRs

ALVISO, CA — (Marketwire) — 09/28/2010 — TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in advanced television services including digital video recorders (DVRs) for consumers, content distributors and consumer electronics manufacturers, today announced that it has teamed with Hulu™ to provide TiVo® Premiere DVR subscribers with access to the full-array of Hulu Plus™ content streamed instantly to their TVs. The Hulu Plus channel will be available via subscription to all TiVo Premiere customers in the coming months.*

The agreement solidifies TiVo’s leading position as the only one-box solution on the market that delivers the most complete entertainment content to the TV with the unmatched ability to use one user interface and one remote to access a sea of broadband, linear and video on demand content.

Hulu Plus offers one of the deepest offerings of current TV shows on a streaming platform to subscribers in the U.S., including every episode of more than 45 current hit programs from ABC, FOX and NBC like Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, Family Guy, The Office and 30 Rock. In addition, TV lovers with TiVo Premiere DVRs will be able to enjoy full series runs and numerous back seasons of dozens of classic shows like The X-Files, Law and Order: SVU, Arrested Development, Saturday Night Live, Miami Vice, Ugly Betty, Quantum Leap, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Roswell and Ally McBeal.

“Adding Hulu Plus to TiVo’s content offering was really the key missing piece to the programming portfolio that TiVo needed in order to deliver a truly comprehensive advanced television offering on the market today — bar none,” said Tara Maitra, VP & General Manager, Content Services and Ad Sales, TiVo Inc. “TiVo is the complete TV entertainment solution. No other service is as robust or offers consumers the ability to access live TV, Web video, and video on demand content from one box like TiVo does.”

Pete Distad, VP of Content Distribution for Hulu, said, “We are laser focused on helping people find and enjoy the world’s premium video content when, where and how they want it. Our goal for Hulu Plus is to provide as much consumer choice as possible, and Hulu Plus on TiVo’s Premiere DVR offering is a compelling way for us to drive our mission forward.”

TiVo, last night, announced the TiVo Premiere and TiVo Premiere XL Series-4 set-top DVR boxes, complete with a resigned UI and optional Bluetooth QWERTY slider remote. A QWERTY TiVo remote? Come on, who are you kidding, you know you want that. The Premiere will retail for $299 and will accommodate up to 45 hours of HD programing on its 320GB hard drive. The XL will retail for $499 and will store up to 150 hours of HD goodness on its 1 TB hard drive. Both models will have a CableCARD slot, Ethernet, USB 2.0, eSATA, Netflix integration, Amazon Video integration, YouTube integration, and the ability to output in 1080p. Other than an extra 680 GB, the XL model also adds THX certification for all you audiophiles out there. The Bluetooth QWERTY remote will be available later this year, although pricing has yet to be announced. As far as other accessories go, a wireless-N adapter can be purchased separately for $90 and, for those stuck in the boonies, a $30 phone line adapter is also available. We’ve got a pic of that new-fangled remote queued up after the break.

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Grab your tinfoil hat and rip the coaxial out of your TiVo privacy-freaks. Search giant Google has setup strategic partnerships with TiVo and DISH Network to analyze customer DVR data in a move billed to better “align advertisers with viewers.” Google TV will do what Google does best — mine data –  TiVo and DISH will be providing Google with “second-by-second viewing information on who’s changing channels and when, who’s fast-forwarding through commercials and anonymous information on viewers themselves.” We’re unclear as to how information can be both anonymous but about the viewer? The information will be used to more accurately target and price 30 and 60 second advertisement spots as the data will be able to indicate just how many people actually watched that Viagra ad, versus how many people fast forwarded over the bloody thing.

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How long does it take to pump out an TiVo app for BlackBerry? One year, evidently, as RIM and TiVo have just announced the availability of TiVo for BlackBerry. Allowing BlackBerry users with a TiVo set-top box to view their program guide and remotely schedule the recording of their favorite shows, BlackBerry for TiVo sounds pretty great except for one huge thing: you can’t watch what you’ve recorded. Yeah, yeah, it’s not a big deal to a lot of people, but the fact of the matter is that we’re living in something called the 21st Century, and in this day and age, your app damn well better learn to stream. We’re not saying that we’re abandoning all hope of streaming becoming a possibility in the future, but for now we guess we’re just going to have watch live TV through the Slingbox app. Joy. Hit the jump for BG’s thoughts on the app and some screenshots…

Alright — just installed this bad boy and I’m pretty disappointed. It’s not like RIM didn’t properly set expectations, because they did. No one said anything about streaming some video in here, but it took them a year to make a scheduling application? It’s not exactly the most complicated type of app and it doesn’t even leverage a single BlackBerry-specific capability. Those two billion are still looking mighty good…

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i.TV, as we’re sure most iPhone owners out there are well aware, is the premier app for all things TV and Movie-related. Think if it as your one-stop-shop for TV programming schedules, community-sourced reviews, local movie schedules, ticket purchasing, streaming trailers, Netflix queue management and so on. Oh yeah, and it’s free. The company just announced a new upcoming version this morning, version 2.0, and it brings with it a bunch of exciting new stuff including:

• New, streamlined UI
• iTunes integration — Initiate available episode/movie/podcast purchases from within the app
• Push notifications — Push alerts for upcoming show reminders, new episodes, etc
• Introduction of the i.TV Remote Control Framework — New support for universal remotes. Devices can be connected via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or dock-connector. The new version currently supports TiVo HD and TiVO HD XL boxes but more devices are on the way.

We’ve been playing with the new version for a couple of weeks now and in short, it’s awesome. i.TV is pushing to become the beginning and end of all things entertainment and so far the company is doing a bang up job. Look for version 2.0 to pop up in the App Store soon (currently pending approval) and hit the jump for quick video overview of the new features.

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Sometimes you just have to sit back and wonder what TiVo is thinking. Apparently the biz dev team there doesn’t think the unending onslaught of television commercials is enough to drive the average television watcher completely insane, so it seems to be doing everything it can to place ads over every last square inch of the TiVo UI. TiVo users may have thought that every possible screen was already laced with advertising banners but it looks like there’s at least one spot that hasn’t been covered yet – the pause screen. That’s right folks, now you can’t even escape TiVo’s ads when you pause your set. Great. For the time being, only Series 2 box owners get this extra little bit of spam to enjoy but Series 3 owners can expect it soon enough. So let’s see. TiVo upfront costs: $150 – $600. Typical cable company DVR upfront cost: $0. TiVo monthly cost: $13. Typical cable company DVR monthly cost: $7 – $10. TiVo: ads everywhere. Typical cable company DVR: minimal or even no ads. But hey, at least with TiVo you can order fast food without even having to reach for a phone…

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Well people, it was fun while it lasted. Green fields and sunny pastures may soon be a thing of the past as TiVo has officially announced the Domino’s widget – a fast food ordering service that allows TiVo subscribers to order from Domino’s without ever having to get up from their couches. Ugh. The Domino’s widget walks users though the Domino’s menu right on the TV screen, providing separate sections for pizzas, side orders and drinks. A quick check out later and you’ve got 30 minutes before piping-hot cholesterol is delivered right to your door. Those of you comfortable with leaving your front door unlocked might not even have to get up off the couch to pay for the food. Orders are capped at $100 which is fine considering any order over $100 should be delivered by an ambulance. If this isn’t a sign of the end of times, we don’t know what is.

[Via Zatz Not Funny!]

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The Netflix federation has been expanding at record pace as of late. Following their recent announcement of Watch Instantly streaming video support for the Mac platform, the company has revealed further plans for world domination. Netflix has revealed a partnership with DVR purveyors, TiVo, that should bring Netflix streaming to set-top boxes across the country. Under the recently announced deal, anyone with a a TiVo Series 3, HD, or HD XL set and an active Netflix account can begin streaming high quality film content to their home television. The catalog seems to be limited to the Watch Instantly queue, but it’s still a damn good thing for anyone looking to make their television viewing experience a tad more exciting. Initially, they’re rolling this out to a couple thousand beta testing users, but everyone can look for the update to hit your box come early December. Merry Christmas!

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Two short weeks since the Slingbox PRO-HD and Slingcatcher were first made available for pre-order, the PRO-HD box is now alive and shipping. It’s probably safe to say that after a delay or two, the team made sure that it got this puppy out the door ASAP. For $299 ($329 for our Canadian buddies) you can be streaming 720p or 1080i high definition goodness to just about anywhere your little heart desires. The Slingbox PRO-HD also features an integrated digital tuner and plenty of inputs to accommodate your DVR, digital cable, satellite receiver and DVD player. The release also coincides with a major software revision for Windows XP and Vista users. SlingPlayer 2.0 includes plenty of updates and new features, not the least of which is much needed live video buffer that allows viewers to pause, rewind and fast forward live streams a la DVR. There is also a great new guide feature that provides a built-in programming guide outside the player window, allowing you to easily browse program schedules as you stream. Today is a big day for our pals at Sling Media and with these major updates and the PRO-HD release out of the way, hopefully we’ll see things kick into high gear on the mobile front.

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