After knocking around in the judicial system for several years, TiVo’s patent infringement case may finally see (some) closure. As EchoStar & DISH’s appeal will not be tackled by the Supreme Court, they’ve announced their intentions to pay TiVo the original $104 million award (including interest) shortly. Of course, this may just be the first installment… There’s potentially more cash at play, pending claims of continued infringement and the contempt hearing outcome.

EchoStar & DISH’s response:

DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) issued the following statement regarding today’s ruling by the United States Supreme Court in EchoStar Communications Corporation vs. Tivo: “As expected, the Supreme Court denied our petition for certiorari today. The Supreme Court’s decision, however, does not impact our software design-around, which has been placed in DISH DVRs subject to the district court’s injunction, and our customers can continue using their DISH DVRs. We believe that the design-around does not infringe Tivo’s patent and that Tivo’s pending motion for contempt should be denied. We look forward to that ruling in the near future. Because of the Supreme Court’s decision, we will pay Tivo approximately $104 million (the amount the jury awarded in 2006 plus interest). The money is in an escrow account and will be released to Tivo in the next few days.“

TiVo’s response:

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and leader in television products and services for digital video recorders (DVR), offered the following statement today on the ruling by the United States Supreme Court to deny an appeal by EchoStar Communications Corporation: “We are extremely pleased that the United States Supreme Court has denied EchoStar’s petition to review the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit unanimous ruling that upheld the District Court judgment of willful patent infringement, full award of damages, and a permanent injunction against EchoStar’s infringing DVR products. We look forward to the expeditious receipt of damages awarded by the District Court covering the period through September 8, 2006 and remain confident that the District Court will enforce the injunction and award further damages from EchoStar’s continued infringement of our Time Warp patent.”

While it’s still a bit early for unified radio hardware, the Sirius XM merger has initially resulted in some programming cross-pollination, lower tier themed lineups, and an a la carte pricing plan. For $4/month more The Best of Sirius offers XM subscribers Howard Stern, NFL, NASCAR, and Playboy Sirius channels - in addition to the entire XM lineup. For XM subscribers (or potential subscribers) on the fence, two reduced priced lineups have been introduced (Mostly Music and Mostly Talk). These packages run $10/mo - only $3 less than the full XM lineup. Most interesting to me is the introduction of a la carte pricing on new Sirius hardware. $7/mo gets you any 50 (non-premium) Sirius stations. Additional channels are only 25 cents more a month. It’s worth noting that the reduced tier and a la carte packages don’t include Internet streaming access. Though with a variety of free online radio options (Slacker, Pandora, etc), it may not matter.

Sprint has taken off the wraps on the first US 4G service. “XOHM” is now live in Baltimore, with DC and Chicago expected to come online soon. More than just a faster wireless network, Sprint’s attempting to encorach on the home broadband market, in addition to serving road warriors, by bundling high speed Internet access - $50/mo covers two WiMax devices, such as a home router and a laptop card. To put that in perspective, service on one typical 3G card currently runs $60/mo. They’re also touting no long-term commitments or contracts, though good luck finding another use for the hardware when you deactive. If they can quickly blanket large swathes of the nation in coverage and promote this thing right (no easy feat), WiMax has a real shot at taking off. At the very least, new competition should help push or keep broadband prices down.

Pre-orders for Sling Media’s Slingbox PRO-HD ($300) began about two weeks ago and units are now shipping, with a brick & mortar presence expected shortly.

What makes this box unique among Sling’s placeshifting lineup is the ability to broadcast your home video content at true high definition resolutions (up to 1080i) - both within the home and beyond. Unlike the Slingbox SOLO (MSRP $180) which is officially* designed to handle one video source, the PRO-HD is more akin to the PRO that preceded it, by offering multiple inputs. Not only will this Slingbox take high def content from a set-top box via component connectivity, it also integrates a digital tuner to receive over-the-air (OTA) ATSC and clear QAM (unencrypted digital cable) broadcasts. Additionally, standard def sources can be fed to the PRO-HD via S-Video and composite inputs.

Video quality has been outstanding. And I say this as a guy primarily running Windows SlingPlayer 2.0 constrained by the limited resources of a Mac virtual machine. (Yeah, there’s no immediate OS X HD support.) While I occasionally wonder if dedicated hardware-based placeshifting solutions such as the Slingbox may be headed towards extinction, high definition streaming breathes new life into this category. (Especially in conjunction with the upcoming SlingCatcher.) I’d much rather watch my own primetime HD recordings, than Hulu’s low def offerings.

Head on over to the SlingCommunity for an in-depth look at PRO-HD features, performance, and configuration.

Obviously, the big news today is T-Mobile’s launch of the first Google Android phone - on HTC hardware. From a digital media stand point, what makes the G1 ($179, available next month) interesting is the bundled software and services. The requisite audio and videos (480×320 resolution) players are present, along with YouTube and a 3 megapixel camera. While I’m not certain what percent of smartphone owners will/do make music purchases direct from a handset, the alliance has brought on Amazon to power a resident MP3 store - consisting of 6 million DRM-free tracks. (Take that, Apple!?) Presumably, desktop software will also be provided to sync these tunes up to a computer. Although the G1 incorporates a microSD slot, supporting up to 8GB of storage.

The T-Mobile G1 comes pre-loaded with an Amazon MP3 application, giving customers a phone-optimized version of the Amazon MP3 store and the immediate gratification of buying and playing their favorite music.  Downloading music from Amazon MP3 using the T-Mobile G1 requires a Wi-Fi connection but searching, browsing, listening to samples and buying MP3s can be done wherever customers are connected to the T-Mobile network. Downloaded MP3s can be played anytime on the T-Mobile G1, PCs, Macs or any other MP3 music player.

No details yet on the capabilities of the video player (codecs) or possible support for Flash web video. And I have inquiries out to Sling and HAVA regarding their potential intentions. Stay tuned…

UPDATE: I’ve heard back from Sling. While the Android platform is on their radar, I wouldn’t expect Slingbox support this year. Blackberry and iPhone clients are the current priorities.

Several folks have broached the idea of bringing a widget station to the home - a networked device that provides useful info like weather and news updates. And now AT&T is getting into the game. The company that brings you everything IP has just launched HomeManager, a home communication system (er, phone) with a touchscreen display that combines news and weather feeds with telephony features like call logs and visual voicemail. (Via EngadgetHD and 3Screens)  For only $299 (!) customers in select cities can get:

• An address book with wireless sync
• Call logs (a la your cell phone)
• Visual voice mail
• Directory information from Yellowpages.com
• Calendar access
• Widgets for news, movies, recipes, sports scores, stock quotes, horoscopes and lottery numbers
• Photos
• Email functionality with POP3 services

The HomeManager sounds an awful lot like the Verizon Hub Dave and I saw up at Verizon headquarters last year, and unfortunately that product hasn’t gone anywhere in recent days. But maybe AT&T will have more luck. I do believe that combining a widget station with functionality that consumers already expect to have in the home (like phone service) is the way to go.

Check out HomeManager yourself in the 3Screens unboxing video. Skip to around the 3:30 mark for the good bits.

Slacker is having a good week. Fresh from announcing a deal with RIM to offer their software and experience on Blackberry devices, the company is announcing a new portable player. The second generation Slacker G2 Personal Radio Player goes on sale from the Slacker website today, and will land on Best Buy shelves in time for the holiday shopping season.

Most of the features in the new Slacker G2, revealed by the FCC last month, stay pretty much the same. The big difference is the size of the device. At 40% more compact than the initial player, the Slacker G2 addresses probably the biggest objection early critics had with their hardware. It is now smaller and sleeker, but VP Jonathan Sasse assures me the display is just as stunning as ever. There are two models available. The 25-station version will retail for $199.99.  The 40-station version will sell for $249.99

According to company materials, new features for the Slacker G2 include:

• Improved audio quality
• Custom EQ and volume normalization options
• 25% longer battery life
• New visual interface and intuitive navigation
• Improved bundled accessories.

I have a review unit coming, so look for hands-on detail soon. In the meantime, if you’re new to Slacker, check out earlier coverage of how the service works. Offline listening of your own custom radio stations is a killer application.

One final note. I asked Jonathan Sasse if Slacker will start offering more community sharing features for its software in the future a la Last.fm, and he confirmed that yes, the company will. Community features are slated for a software update due in a few months.

Well lookee here, both Sling Media’s SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD are now available for pre-order (!) from Amazon and SlingMedia.com at $299.99 each. While there’s no shipping date, I presume either would arrive in time for a holiday a delivery.

As you may recall, the eagerly anticipated SlingCatcher brings a variety of video content to the television in three distinct ways. First, it’ll play media synced and stored on a USB drive (some file format details here). Next, and similar to the ZvBox, software will project a PC display to the Catcher - either the entire screen or a specified region (plus audio). Think Internet video, like Hulu. What makes the SlingCatcher most unique, of course, is it’s ability to directly receive a Slingbox feed. Essentially Slinging from television to television, with no computer in the mix, inside the home or out. Interestingly, the interface looks somewhat different than what was shown at CES.

The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first Slingbox to stream in high definition (1080i, 5.1), serving video the house or beyond, to PC, Mac, mobile (or Catcher). PRO-HD supports multiple inputs and I imagine most owners will utilize the component inputs to broadcast content from an HD set-top box. However, this is the first Slingbox with an integrated digital tuner - both ATSC OTA and clear QAM are supported. The PRO-HD was originally announced at $399, so the new lower price point ($299.99) is a nice surprise.