Los Angeles - Gemstar-TV Guide International (NASD: GMST), a provider of electronic program guides for digital TV services, announced on Tuesday that it has expanded its relationship with digital video recorder firm TiVo (NASD: TIVO). Under the terms, the companies entered into a new patent license agreement for retail products and certain service provider deployments of the TiVo service in international markets. "International interest in TiVo is at an all time high as retailers and service providers globally seek to deliver the TiVo service as a way to differentiate their video products," said Joshua Danovitz, VP and GM of International at TiVo.

San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube video site on Wednesday introduced updates to its application programming interfaces (APIs) that will allow developers to integrate videos from the site into other applications, and showcased implementations from TiVo (NASD: TIVO), Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS), Animoto and the University of California.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

In my column last week, I predicted that there may be a silver lining in Yahoo’s recent troubles and low share price in the form of a possible takeover bid from rival Microsoft. Voilà! In a bold move that sent ripples through Silicon Valley before sunrise on Friday, Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) announced that it has made an unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid

Alviso, Calif. - CBS (NYSE: CBS) announced on Thursday that it has entered into a research partnership with TiVo (NASD: TIVO), and will subscribe to the company's StopWatch DVR ratings service, which provides second-by-second measurement of program and specific commercial ratings for both live and time-shifted viewing. NBC Universal also subscribes to TiVo's StopWatch. "TiVo...offers us the opportunity to analyze television viewing behavior and develop strategies to maximize the impact of our advertisers' messages and product placement arrangements in this new non-linear viewing environment," said CBS chief research officer David F. Poltrack.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) said on Thursday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld its claim that rival EchoStar (NASD: DISH), operator of the DISH Network satellite TV service, was infringing on one of its digital video recorder patents, and must pay $74 million in damages, now $94 million with accrued interest.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

There was no shortage of news for the week of Jan. 21-25. The biggest story: The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5%, its lowest level since September 2005, but the Fed’s actions couldn’t stop an already shaky stock market from continuing its downward spiral. After a sharp mid-week increase on news of the rate cut, the DMW100 ended slightly lower on the week.

New York - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV provider, will this week finally begin offering TiVo's (NASD: TIVO) digital video recorder interface to subscribers, initially in the Boston area, USA Today reports. The deployment is the first to utilize new Tru2way technology, which allows greater interoperability between consumer electronics and cable systems, and will feature TiVo's interface on Motorola-made set-top boxes. The offering will not include TiVo features like access to media on home computers, or transfer of recorded shows to laptops or mobile devices. Comcast told USA Today that it plans to roll out to additional markets later this year; its partnership with TiVo runs through 2014.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Thursday that it will add thousands of independent and international film titles from Web distributor Jaman to the offering on its network for owners of broadband-connected digital video recorders. TiVo viewers will be able to both rent and purchase films starting at $1.99.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) said on Monday that it will soon add the ability for its subscribers to apply its "Season Pass" feature to Web video, enabling users to subscribe to and watch a broad range of RSS feeds. Web videos will then appear automatically in the user's "Now Playing" list alongside recorded TV shows. The new capability requires that users purchase TiVo Desktop Plus 2.6, which will retail for $24.95 when released in March.

Englewood, Colo. - EchoStar Communications (NASD: DISH), operator of the DISH Network satellite TV service, announced this week in an SEC filing that the company will change its name to DISH Network Corporation, in connection with an anticipated spin-off of its set-top box-related businesses to a new company called EchoStar Holding Company.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Wednesday that it will add several thousand music videos and original programming from Music Choice to its TiVoCast service for broadband-connected TiVo boxes. Music Choice, a partnership between Microsoft, Motorola, Sony, EMI Music and several cable TV operators, provides digital audio and video music channels on cable TV services, the Internet and mobile platforms.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Monday that it has partnered with online photo-hosting services Photobuck and Picasa Web Albums, to allow TiVo subscribers to access their own photos and those of friends via their broadband-connected TiVo boxes. TiVo users will also be able to search community photos of interest by keyword through TiVo's search interface.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Thursday that the U.S. Patent Office has upheld its "Time Warp" patent on digital video recording technology, after a reexamination was requested by rival EchoStar (NASD: DISH), whom TiVo is suing for infringing the patent on its own recorders.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Wednesday that it has signed an audience research agreement with Carat, one of the largest media buying firms in the world. Under the deal, Carat will have access to TiVo's StopWatch ratings service and PowerWatch Consumer Panel, which will provide demographic and viewing behavior data for 20,000 TiVo households. Separately, TiVo announced a partnership with Nero, to integrate the company's DVR features on Nero's PC-based TV recording software.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Tuesday that NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) has signed a multi-year deal to offer its advertisers the ability to buy interactive TiVo ads in combination with other NBC products.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Monday that its digital video recorders will be available for the first time in Canada -- except in Quebec -- early next month. The TiVo Series2 Dual-Tuner DVR will sell for $199 CDN at retailers including Best Buy, The Brick, London Drug and Future Shop.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Thursday the launch of a new service that will offer advertisers access to linked demographic and viewing behavior data for 20,000 volunteer TiVo households. The company said its PowerWatch Consumer Panel will provide advertisers with demographic data like age, income, marital status and ethnicity on TiVo subscribers, combined with data on which programs they are viewing and recording.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with RealNetworks to make the company's Rhapsody digital music service available to TiVo owners who have connected their set-tops to a broadband home network. The service will allow TiVo users to search Rhapsody's 4 million-song catalog from their TV, as well as rate music using the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down buttons on their TiVo remotes. The Rhapsody on TiVo service will cost $12.99 for TiVo subscribers, and be available at no additional cost to existing Rhapsody subscribers with broadband-connected TiVo boxes.

Washington - A panel of judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has signaled that it will likely rule at least partially in favor of TiVo in the company's patent infringement case against satellite TV firm EchoStar Communications, the Associated Press reported.