Cablevision Sued for Network DVR Plan

Cablevision was sued Wednesday by four Hollywood studios and the three major television networks, who accused the cable provider of copyright infringement through its planned on-demand service that would essentially replace the set-top digital video recorder.

The offering would allow subscribers to store and playback television off of Cablevision's servers. While personal copying has long been ruled legal, opponents of the new service say the cable provider is recording and retransmitting programming without the necessary license.

Filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the suit seeks an injunction that would prevent Cablevision from launching the service. Other companies that are considering offering similar services are watching the suit closely before announcing their own plans.

Industry officials say the problem is not the time-shifting aspect of any DVR service, but the way that Cablevision would market it. Since the provider is a for-profit entity, it cannot charge for on-demand access to programming without licenses.

Cablevision disagrees with that point of view. It claims the service is more like a TiVo, because it is not recording all programming, just those selected by individual users. The only difference is that content is stored remotely, not on a hard drive in a DVR.

Each subscriber would also be given dedicated space for their content only.

No timetable for release of the network based DVR has been provided for the service; however, the offering may be delayed until the lawsuit is settled. Cablevision serves about 3 million customers in and around New York City.