Comments on: A Cablevision Win for Network DVR, AKA Cloud TV

By: Fanfoot

Fanfoot — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:23:48 +0000

Wow, I suggest everybody interested read the opinion. Its really nice. Might give you some faith in US Law again. It is very well written and easy to follow.

http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/cablevision-decision-20080804.pdf

By: Fanfoot

Fanfoot — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:05:32 +0000

Mari,

The current Cablevision implementation gives every user their own separate 80GB of space, and yes, if multiple users record the same show, it makes multiple copies of that show. And if different users specified different start times they would get different copies. Just like a regular DVR. Of course this is inefficient given that an NPVR could keep only a single copy of the show and stream it to each of them, but Cablevision wanted an implementation that was as likely to succeed a legal challenge as possible.

BTW there’s a nice summary at:

http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/003043cablevision_wins_remote_storage_dvr_appeal_but.php

including a link to a PDF of the actual decision.

By: lesterpussycat

lesterpussycat — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:13:25 +0000

What amazes me is that the content providers can’t work with the cable companies on what is, really, the ultimate DRM. Rather than put hard drives in consumers’ hands, network DVR potentially allows for the cable company to control how long a show can be kept, how many times it’s replayed, what resolution can be recorded (HD or SD only), even whether it can be recorded at all. The whole dustup about selectable output control becomes moot, because it can be controlled centrally.

I would think the content owners would make it very attractive to the cable companies to exert that kind of control. But the relationship between the content owners and the cable companies is so adversarial that they can’t make those sorts of deals? Maybe it’s for the best that they don’t . . .

By: Chris Brucia

Chris Brucia — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:22:40 +0000

Who wants to bet that accessing content like that will be “free” to access in the era of bandwidth caps while watching the same content via Hulu or other web service will “cost” via counting against your B.S. cap?

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:04:27 +0000

Cheaper storage and delivery primarily benefit the service providers, not the content owners who initiated the suit… A scenario like this is potentially lost revenue for the content owners who have less leverage in working OnDemand deals – which comes with royalties/licensing.

By: Mari Silbey

Mari Silbey — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:33:51 +0000

Good point, Dave. But I wonder how long legalities will hold out against the pull of cheaper storage and delivery.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:28:50 +0000

For legal reasons and assuming this doesn’t get scuttled at a higher court or with a different argument, each customer will most likely make their own recording on head-end servers. Cablevision stands to save money by not rolling out DVR hardware though – imagine every basic cable box able to access your own VOD hard drive partition/channel in the cloud for a DVR fee instead of DVR hardware, truck roll, etc. And you can bet they’ll charge for higher tiers of storage. I agree with Mari’s hunch that we’d eventually see upselling and perhaps post/pre-roll advertising as well.

By: Mari Silbey

Mari Silbey — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:20:29 +0000

@Ryan Roat Awesome questions. It’s hard to imagine that operators would store a program copy for every user looking to “record” a particular show. Terribly inefficient. Network DVR will end up looking a lot more like VOD, except consumers will have more control via the interface. (I want to save this show, versus I want to watch this show you the operator have made available on-demand) And yes, I’m sure there will be buffers at the beginning and end of shows. Whether operators make the added time available depends on how the service is implemented. I could see a menu offering you the option – “I see you’d like to watch the NBA game you recorded last night. We noticed it lasted longer than expected. Would you like to view an extended recording?”