Remote Storage DVR gets green light
The distinction is important because a remote system essentially transforms every digital set-top box in the home into a DVR, allowing customers to sign up instantly, without the need to pick up a DVR from the nearest cable office or wait for a technician to visit.
Movie studios, TV networks and cable TV channels had argued that the service is more akin to video-on-demand, for which they negotiate licensing fees with cable providers.
They claimed a remote-storage DVR service amounts to an unauthorized rebroadcast of their programs. Cablevision argued its service was permissible because the control of the recording and playback was in the hands of the consumer.
