When will EchoStar
Charles Ergen's satellite company once again came up short in its patent-infringement battle against TiVo
The damage to EchoStar doesn't end there. The meter is still ticking on accumulated interest for the judgments that have all ended in TiVo's favor, dating back to the original victory three years ago. EchoStar will appeal -- again -- but one gets the feeling that it's only delaying the inevitable, with a tab that mounts with every passing courtroom defeat and interest-bearing day.
TiVo has struggled to grow the organic base of subscribers to its digital video recorder (DVR) platform. However, the company shrewdly staked a claim on the patents that power its time-shifting technology. As a result, cable and satellite television heavyweights like DirecTV
Ergen has had a rough year. He was trumped by John Malone's Liberty Capital
How will this end? DISH Network can't afford to deactivate the DVR boxes of its satellite-television customers. The company has already been shedding subscribers, and the sudden absence of DVRs' addictive, commercial-quashing capabilities probably wouldn't help matters. Unless there's a legal card it hasn't played before a sympathetic judge, EchoStar may as well just follow the example of larger players like Comcast and DirecTV, and strike a licensing deal with TiVo. If it's good enough for the leading cable and satellite television providers, what's DISH's dish?
Hasn't EchoStar realized that TiVo is the Harlem Globetrotters of DVR technology? At the very least, Ergen should know that his own company's looking more and more like the Washington Generals.
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