Cablevision this week lost its legal battle to be allowed to use a networked Personal Video Recorder, a server which will store programming based on remote control commands in customer homes.
It was thought that this distinction about the nPVR device which means that it doesn’t keep a copy of TV programming unless a user has requested it, would mean that Cablevision would be able to save huge amounts of money, instead of providing each home with a PVR. Network PVRs are far cheaper.
The case was brought last May by several studios that were unhappy at the thought of a copy being made which was like a VoD copy of a program, potentially available for resale.
The plaintiffs in the suit were Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Disney along with broadcasters ABC, CBS and NBC and Time Warner’s Cartoon Network and CNN networks.
Cablevision was trialing the technology using PVR in the network with standard set tops. Immediately other cable operators, notably the largest in the US, Comcast, said it was closely watching the experiment, and would like to offer the same service. In other parts of the world, such as central Europe, this technique is already being offered as standard.
Studios agree that currently the US law, under “fair use,” or ‘personal use,’ gives consumers the right to time shift, but it does not give the right to companies that have a broadcast content license to do anything other than broadcast it. Technically the Digital Millenium copyright Act allows for temporary storage of files while they are being broadcast, but this has stretched that definition somewhat.
Cablevision said it is currently considering an appeal against the ruling by Judge Denny Chin of the US District Court in Manhattan.