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TiVo doesn't fear RS-DVR ruling
DVR pioneer TiVo reported a quarterly profit this week for only the third time in the company's history. It posted $2.9 million in net income, far better than last year's same-quarter loss of $17.7 million. But, are TiVo's prospects for future success limited by the recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling supporting the efforts of cable TV firms and telcos to operate remote storage-DVR? Not surprisingly, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers doesn't think so, and suggests that the legal fight over RS-DVR between the entertainment and telecommunications industries is far from over.
RS-DVR is also called network DVR, but the heart of the case was Cablevision's RS-DVR service. RS-DVR would seem to limit TiVo's appeal as a storage device, though if TiVo maintains strong ties with network operators, its device could have a prominent role opening a window to a new world of video storage. The company is maintaining the case won't have an effect either way. In any case, Rogers may be right about the issue not being finished yet. Hollywood TV and movie studios had sued Cablevision to stop the storage of copyrighted content on its network, and since the ruling, industry watchers have been expecting the Hollywood forces to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. That has not happened yet, but network operators haven't been rushing to release RS-DVR offerings either.
For more:
- read this story at Light Reading's Cable Digital News
- see this Associated Press story
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Cablevision started testing RS-DVR in 2006
Comments
Posted by Anonymous | August 29, 2008 - 11:03am
Cablevision can win its case, but it is not considering the opinion of its users, or customers; for intances, as a user of Tivo I know I can have my pictures, home movies, and any video I want stored in my Tivo. I will not like to have them stored in a remote place which I will need them to delete in case I switch cable company. I think the movie studios feel the same, it is like leaving your things in the hand of a stranger. I will never get rid of my Tivo. Sorry.
Posted by Anonymous | March 12, 2009 - 12:30pm
Tivo is to go bankrupt in another 2 years unless they invent some incredible new technology. They have way too many competitors in the industry now compared to a few years ago. There is no big difference between network based and Tivo set top based. Neither system allows for the end user to actually own the recorded broadcast. So unless you have a some monster HD on the Tivo, you will still need to delete stuff to record new ones.
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