Federal court blocks Cablevision from launching network PVR

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.