<...with all the activity related to TVs, STBs, and the living room in general, I'm coming to appreciate that any wanna-be player is in a better position the more of a complete solution they provide or partner in.>

Living room = whole home:
With sling-type sideways transfer to other locations in home, "living room" should really read "whole home" and all occupants.

And outside the home:
And, as we all know, there's a coming battle for dominance among methods of electronic, point-of-sale payments in all retail locations, pitting mobiles, contact cards, banks, retailers, .coms, etc. against each other. TiVo's not going to be a leader in that fight, but they're smart to align with one or more strong contenders, and PayPal is a start. I like the Amazon suggestion as well, if they can pull that off.

TiVo will benefit to the extent that PayPal grows their business.

But, all that said, I'd still much rather see a settlement or another MSO deal.