Supreme Court Paves Way for Network-DVR
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, June 29, 2009 · 
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The Supreme Court today declined to hear arguments against Cablevision’s remote-storage DVR offering that would allow subscribers to access and view stored content via the cable operator’s network.
This paves the way for telcos to roll out network DVRs and subscription services. Network DVRs can run on inexpensive digital set-top boxes and offer customers significantly more storage than a traditional personal video recorder, or PVR.
Cablevision announced its plans for network DVR back in 2006, and in May of that same year several major studios and networks sued the company, claiming that Cablevision violated copyright law by not negotiating programming deals for the network-DVR service. There have also been concerns by advertisers that the service would allow Cablevision subscribers to skip over ads.
Cablevision maintained that a network DVR operates no differently than a DVR in a customer’s home, and therefore it wasn’t required to cut programming deals for the service. Read more