Cablevision Systems shook up the TV network establishment this week with the trial launch of its networked DVR. But, according to company COO Tom Rutledge, program providers should embrace the technology because there are opportunities to exploit with it.
Speaking today at Bank of America’s Media, Telecommunications and Entertainment Conference, Rutledge offered more detail on Cablevision’s view that centralized storage of TV programs is the same, from a copyright standpoint, as storage of programs in individual DVRs.
“We’ve done a lot of research. We think that to the extent that a DVR is legal…this is legal,” he said. “What we’re doing is allowing consumers to use their set-top box as a DVR, just as we do when we put a DVR in the house.”
Cablevision’s networked DVR architecture can be extended, however, to create new copyrighted uses that TV programmers could embrace to help grow their revenues, Rutledge said. “There are lots of opportunities that flow from that to create new copyright opportunities…programmers should look at this as an opportunity to create new value that they don’t have with DVRs.”
Cablevision is also pushing the programming envelope with its early-stage deployments of switched video services. The company ran an extensive trial of switched video delivery in Patterson, NJ, an effort that will now expand company-wide in the form of a switched video foreign language service.
Using switched digital video and advanced compression algorithms, Cablevision can more than triple its channel capacity. The new foreign language service (high-value but narrow market demand, Rutledge said) will offer over 60 channels of foreign language programming.
Not that Cablevision really needs more channel capacity. “The modern cable system is vastly underutilized today,” Rutledge said. “We’re not worried about channel capacity at all.”
Cynthia Brumfield at 8:10 PM|Comments(0)
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