July 9 - 10:25am EDT   Electronics retail chain Best Buy and digital video recorder maker TiVo on Thursday announced a partnership that will see Best Buy carry a specially developed TiVo set-top box that will let Best Buy advertise its products and services to TiVo subscribers, among other benefits. What TiVo execs are calling the biggest marketing move in the DVR company's history, will see Best Buy committing to a multi-year deal to advertise, promote and carry the TiVo devices, though no financial details have been released. [full story]

April 8 - 3:15pm EDT   Philips today revealed that it will stop its direct development HDTVs for North America. The Dutch firm now says it will outsource all of the work for both these sets and Magnavox models to Japan-based Funai. The company will handle both manufacturing sets as well as marketing them in the two western countries. The move is cited as necessary to turn around Philips' loss-taking HDTV business, which is successful in Asia and Europe but has struggled in the more competitive North American space through tight profit margins. [full story]

February 7 - 3:15pm EST   Big-box retailer Best Buy will soon join a special discount plan, meant to help push Americans over from analog TV to digital. Beginning February 17th, the company will start selling selling an Insignia-branded digital-to-analog converter box, eligible for a coupon program initiated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This will cut the price of the converter by $40, making it a more reasonable $20. [full story]