You may well be correct there, perhaps television manufacturers do have to license the basic innovations I have listed.
However, we do not hear about constant legal battles between them. Having recently bought a "smart" tv, I noticed in the shop they were all now "smart", with apps and games. It's very difficult to spot any differences between them physically, it's all about the picture.
Who has copied who in this instance, and it's obvious from the large amount of choice and healthy competition in that market that they are able to co-exist reasonably peacefully, with no 1 company claiming itself to be the inventor of the smart tv and therefore all other products are imitations and should be banned. The patenting system either works a lot better in that market, or the companies don't concentrate most of their efforts in hoarding patents, or they just don't have as many stupid software patents.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/02/virgin_epg_victory/
As an example, a stupid TV software patent dismissed in court.