March 28, 2007

Cablevision's Network DVR Gets Shot Down in Court.

Last year we told you how Cablevision was about to have a fight on it's hands with Hollywood over it's idea to offer network-based DVRs. Well, last week the courts supported Hollywood's position by squashing Cablevision's plans. According to Reuters:

Cablevision Systems Corp. has lost a legal battle against several Hollywood studios and television networks to introduce a network-based digital video recorder service to its subscribers.

The article continues:

Cablevision was sued last May by several Hollywood studios and television networks, including those owned by Time Warner Inc. , News Corp. , CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co. , which charged that the planned service would violate U.S. copyright laws.
Cablevision had hoped a network-based DVR system, called Remote Storage DVR or RS-DVR, would have done away with the need for the installation of hundreds of thousands of digital set-top boxes in subscribers' homes.

This would potentially have saved Cablevision significant administration and maintenance costs. It already has installed over 500,000 set-top boxes in homes in its area.

Even though I can see both sides of this, I really hope the remote DVRs become a reality. As I mentioned before I think Cablevision shot themselves in the foot by announcing their remote DVR plans without consulting Hollywood Studios first.

We'll keep you posted if any good news comes out of this but we won't hold our breath.

At Topix.net