The US District Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled that Cablevision will not be allowed to roll out a network-based DVR. The decision comes as blow to operators who have wanted to deploy such services rather than have DVRs in the home.
“We are disappointed by the judge’s decision and continue to believe that remote-storage DVRs are consistent with copyright law and offer compelling benefits for consumers, including lower costs and broader availability of this popular technology,” Cablevision said in a prepared statement Thursday night.
The suit was started in May, 2006 by most big TV and movie studios, who argued this would violate copyright law, since it would rely on technology and hardware embedded in its network. Cablevision argued that its network DVR product (called RS-DVR) wouldn’t violate copyright laws since it would perform similar to DVRs installed in individual homes. One can expect Cablevision to appeal the decision.
