Rovi Signs Multiyear IP Licensing Deal with Apple

While Rovi is offering few details of a new multiyear IP licensing deal with Apple Computer, the company is preparing to launch a customizable TotalGuide interactive program guide (IPG) inside CE devices and cable set-top boxes. Rovi provided few clues about the agreement with Apple, mentioned Monday in a short one-sentence SEC filing. But company officials have described TotalGuide as “highly customizable” to meet partners’ specific requirements. Rovi’s stock closed Monday up 9.2 percent at $46.51.

The full TotalGuide will have links to Rovi’s collection databases, cobbled together from acquisitions of All Media Guide (AMG) and Muze. But it also will be available for cable and other STBs in a “light” version stripped of some “rich” metadata and designed for upgrading current IPGs, CEO Fred Amoroso said at a recent Kaufman Brothers conference in New York. TotalGuide “light” will be “less robust” and “more of a guide and less of a portal,” Amoroso said. Apple’s new cloud-centric Apple TV is set to arrive late this month at $99.

The first TotalGuide-equipped CE products are expected to ship in first half 2011, and they will roll out in a “substantial base” of cable STBs in second half 2011, Amorso said. Samsung TVs shipping this fall include some elements of the new TotalGuide, he said. But Google TV, which will be available this fall in some Sony and Logitech products, uses an earlier version of Rovi’s IPGs, largely because its development cycle didn’t mesh with TotalGuide’s, Amoroso said. TotalGuide will be available for “legacy” chipsets that run STBs but can’t be retrofitted to existing products, Amoroso said.

In addition to IPGs, metadata and media-recognition software, Rovi supplies anti-piracy digital rights management (DRM) services. Rovi’s technology is a device-to-device content protection system. Apple dropped DRM from music sold though its iTunes store in 2008. But Apple’s FairPlay DRM is still used for TV shows and movies sold through iTunes.

The agreement comes just weeks after Apple announced plans to allow developers to use a range of tools to create applications. The action was a retreat from an update this year to Apple’s iOS developer program license that prevented developers from using tools such as Adobe Creative Suite 5 to port applications. Those tools can now be used if code isn’t downloaded.

Meanwhile, Apple’s new LED-backlit 27-inch LCD monitor ($999) will be available in a week or two, replacing 24- and 30-inch models, the company said. The monitor features 2,560x1,440 resolution, 178-degree viewing angle and built-in MagSafe charger. The device can connect to PCs with a Mini DisplayPort and has three USB 2.0 ports on the back. It also has an iSight camera, a microphone and a 2.1 speaker system.