AT&T to pay Tivo $200+ million in settlement

AT&T has agreed to pay Tivo a whopping sum of $215 million, at a time when it also has to clear up money to pay T-Mobile.

It isn’t going to be a pretty quarter for AT&T and it certainly isn’t the way to start a new year. The company had been embroiled in a patent infringement lawsuit, brought forth by Tivo.

The two have struck an agreement wherein AT&T will make scheduled payments to give Tivo a total of $215 million, and in addition it will also have to pay a perpetual monthly licensing fee.

This comes at a time when AT&T is also looking to give T-Mobile a sum total of $4 billion.

The fee is a result of AT&T’s admitted failure in securing a T-Mobile buyout. Under the terms of the acquisition contract, AT&T has to fork over a lot of money as a concession for wasting T-Mobile’s time.

Tivo said it was pleased with the outcome and expects the deal to boost its business and allow it to spend more on furthering its strategy moving forward.

Tivo of course is not in great shape either. It has been struggling to prove itself relevant in a market where everyone gets DVR service from their cable provider and many others can access streaming content directly from their TV.