They want to sell as many of them as possible while the legal battles take place, make a pile of money, and abruptly EOL the product

No, I disagree. I don't think they intend to EOL the product.

I think they are taking advantage of the timing (xmas shopping season) to put themselves in the news. People will hear the news reports about these "PVRs that the networks hate", and will (hopefully) rush out to buy these "pirate boxes"* before the networks put a stop to it.

If the networks do not succeed in stopping them, all the better. Even if the networks do succeed, all it takes is an online firmware squirt to disable the offending features, but the quickly-gained market share and the installed base of users doesn't decrease. Win-win.

*Note emphasized quotes, I do not personally think they are pirate boxes.