Cablevision Systems is considering whether to appeal a federal court ruling that blocks its deployment of technology that would allow cable subscribers to record programming without deploying a special set-top box.
During remarks last week at a media conference in New York City, Tom Rutledge, Cablevision's chief operating officer, noted that a service that records shows on servers at a cable headend, instead of hard drives in set-top boxes inside a customer's home, would reduce the company's capital expenditures over time.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, however, ruled in favor of content owners who had argued that the cable operator's system would be in violation of licensing agreements governing their works. Chin ruled that a remote storage DVR would allow Cablevision and its customers to engage in unauthorized reproductions and transmissions of copyright-protected programming.
"The RS-DVR is not a standalone machine that sits on top of a television," Chin wrote. "Rather, it is a complex system that involves an ongoing relationship between Cablevision and its customers, payment of monthly fees by the customers to Cablevision, ownership of the equipment remaining with Cablevision, the use of numerous computers and other equipment located in Cablevision's private facilities and the ongoing maintenance of the system by Cablevision personnel."
The plaintiffs include 20th Century Fox Film, ABC, CBS, CNN, Disney Enterprises, NBC Studios, Paramount Pictures, Turner Broadcasting System's Cartoon Network and Universal City Studios.
