TVSquad

While the world waits with baited breath for the outcome of the Cablevision networked PVR trial, xchange magazine went and looked at the implications the trial could have for other cable television providers.

Comcast and Time Warner Cable executives say if Cablevision succeeds in its bid to overturn a ruling blocking the company's remote-storage personal video recorder service, those companies could offer their own networked PVRs.

Remote storage devices offer several benefits for cable providers. Customers get to record the programs they want to watch, but the cable company doesn't have to send a box to each subscriber. This cuts down on hardware costs, as well as maintenance.

A Comcast exec told xchange the company would definitely launch a network PVR if the courts rule in favor of Cablevision. A Time Warner executive wouldn't go that far, but he said the company does see the benefits of a networked system.

Look, there was absolutely zero doubt that Cablevision was going to appeal the federal court decision barring the cable service provider from rolling out its remote-storage PVR plan. But now that they've filed their appeal, the news is showing up in more newspapers and blogs than the original ruling.

So let's review. Cablevision wants to allow users to record, pause, rewind, and fast-forward live television. But rather than sticking a box with a hard drive in the customer's living room, Cablevision proposed having a bank of hard drives in a central location.

The U.S. District Court in Southern New York has ruled against Cablevision's plan to deploy a network-based PVR system. The company had planned to allow users to record, play, pause, rewind and fast-forward recordings. But instead of placing a set-top-box with a hard drive in the customer's home, Cablevision would have allowed viewers to store their programs on a Cablevision server.

Fox, Paramount, Disney, Universal, and a whole slew of television networks sued Cablevision over the plan. They claimed that network PVRs would violate copyright laws by taking away content owners' right to distribute media in the way they saw fit. While Cablevision argued that a network PVR was just like a personal video recorder in a customer's house, the court didn't see it that way.

Cablevision may still appeal the case, and it could make its way to the Supreme Court.