Remote storage DVRs pose “gigantic copyright issues”

At this week's annual cable industry confab hosted in Atlanta, one topic on the minds of many executives is the remote-storage DVR concept. Recently we told you about Cablevision's interesting attempt to wed their high-speed digital cable network to the DVR concept. The idea is extremely simple on its surface: instead of a full-fledged DVR in every home, Cablevision wants to give users access to a centrally managed storage system run by the company. The end result is DVR functionality in the home, but with everything stored by Cablevision. It's an interesting plan, and one that other cable executives are already saying they'll be following if it works out. The problem is, that's a pretty big "if."

See, while the idea is intriguing to cable executives, it's threatening to their TV industry counterparts. Never mind the fact that remote storage DVRs aren't necessarily that revolutionary an idea. With the cable companies getting involved at the level of infrastructure, there are concerns that they could either profit from creating "derivative works" based off of broadcast content, or wrest control from users in some other way.

Regarding Cablevision's plans, John Hendricks, chairman of Discovery Communications Inc., said, "We believe if the consumer is directly (in) control, they have a right to do so." But added, "We're very concerned about a third party manipulating content ... and changing our content in ways we did not intend."

What kind of "change" could Hendricks be worried about? After all, it's not likely that Cablevision would use their DVR service to add new endings to The Sopranos or turn Dr. Who into a time traveler riding in a Hummer. No, the concern here is once again with advertising.

As TV marketers scramble to try and figure out what do to about growing DVR usage, broadcasters are becoming concerned that increased DVR usage means that users are skipping ever more ads, and that the ads they do see could be out of date. Although Cablevision has said nary a word, a remote storage DVR system would allow Cablevision to place new ads in video streams as they are watched, rather than replay advertising that's n days old. They could also limit and/or remove users' abilities to fast forward through all advertising.

Oxygen Media Chairman and CEO Geraldine Laybourne told Reuters that the content industry is looking very closely at Cablevision's plans.

"I think there are gigantic copyright issues that programmers are dealing with right now," said Laybourne. "Honestly, I think the lawyers at all of our companies are looking at it and trying to figure out a strategy," she added. "It's a new announcement and it's a very big change."

The rhetoric strongly suggests that the lawyers are looking for a show-stopper, for a way to say "nuh uh" to Cablevision. The question is, why? Leaving aside concerns over advertising, the copyright issues are particularly craggy. While a user's personal right to timeshift is enshrined in law (for now), the remote-storage DVR pushes on this arrangement because "personal use" becomes much more murky when it involves a third party sending or "rebroadcasting" (!) content to that user, on demand. When this third party is making money off of this service, things get cloudier still. When one starts to think about how this could compete against existing on-demand services—the very same services being tapped to monetize hit network TV shows—then the clouds give way to hurricane winds.

Of course, for now, Cablevision just wants to launch its service and see if users are even interested. While the copyright issues may be less than clear, the technological issues aren't. If Cablevision's service debuts with an interface that looks to have been designed by, well, a cable company, and with the snappiness and speed (not) that accompanies digital cable offerings everywhere, none of this will really matter.