Cablevision in Legal Battle Over Copyright
Cable provider Cablevision is being sued by major studios for using Digital Video Recording Technology. Cablevision’s remote-storage DVR or RS-DVR is being marketed as a device that basically lets users record shows on schedule and watch these on demand, with the option to zip past advertisements.
The issue here: the studios say that Cablevision isn’t paying license fees for “video on demand,” which the technology they are selling is, by definition.
In a case that could reshape copyright law, Fox, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, CBS and Disney asked a U.S. district court here to stop Cablevision Systems from rolling out a service that lets an ordinary digital set-top box function as a DVR, like TiVo. There are 45 million such digital boxes in use.
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The studios argue that means Cablevision is selling not a DVR, but a video on demand service, without paying the studios a license fee as they do for VOD. “Unlike with a set-top box, Cablevision will copy copyrighted content and retransmit it without authorization,” says Kori Bernards of the industry’s Motion Picture Association of America. “Cablevision’s refusal to seek a license has left the plaintiffs no option but to sue.”
Cablevision argues that the service is not video-on-demand, but simply a digital video recorder, even if the actual “recorder” is not in the premises of the subscriber, but in Cablevision’s own facilities. This is the basic premise that would be argued in court: whether such a facility should be considered as in fact offering video-on-demand, or simply as a remote-DVR, analysts say. Further, the issue could take years to resolve, even reaching Supreme Court-level, much like the landmark MGM vs. Grokster case.
Broadcasters worry over high cost of HD equipment
Analog signals will cease to be broadcast by 2009. Do you think you’re at a severe disadvantage for having to buy new digital-enabled television sets? Well, think again. You would only need to spend a minimum of about US$1,000 on a television set, but broadcast companies would have to shell out upwards of US$ 80,000 for every HD-enabled camera.
Smallish production companies and independent TV stations are fretting over HD cameras that can set them back $80,000. The federal government’s requirement that broadcasters move to digital TV signals within three years had scores of tiny production houses, public broadcasting stations and university communications departments pacing the aisles at the National Association of Broadcasters 2006 electronics media conference [in Las Vegas] this week.
Meanwhile, equipment providers are trying to win over broadcasters this early by offering discounted or lower prices on their hardware. Sony, Avid and Apple, among others, are wooing TV executives into adopting early. However, broadcast companies are still worried about a possible low viewer demand for HD content. Still, since it’s only three years away before the analog signal swithch-off, an investment on digital at this point is likely to pay off, especially since this would pave the way for a faster adoption rate among viewers.
SkyTV and Sony Will Give Your Cash Back
Buyers of Sony BRAVIA high-definition LCD TVs who will subscribe to SkyTV’s (UK) HDTV service between April 26th to July 10th will be eligible for a £100 rebate. This is open to subscribers who purchase BRAVIA TV V and S series with sizes of 26-inch and up, and a SkyHD set-top box, which has built-in personal video recording features. The set-top box retails for £299 and the HDTV service comes at a monthly service fee of £10 on top of regular SkyDigital subscriptions (usually ranging from £15 to £30 per month).
Sky has recently launched its high-definition digital television service, which went live this April 12th.
[via PocketLint]
Smallest USB Tuner from AVer Media
AVerMedia announced what it claims to be the smallest USB TV tuner ever. The tuner supports digital TV and can run on Windows Media Center Edition, Linux (some distributions, at least), and is tested to run on the upcoming Windows Vista. The manufacturer says this tuner is ideal for use on a notebook computer, as it only draws 2 Watts of power–hence saving on battery consumption.
The new DVB-T Volar weighs a mere 17.5g and measures in at 7 x 2.5 x 1.1cm making it ideal to slip in your pocket and out of sight when you boss heads your way.
We however don’t exactly think it’s great to bank on a gadget’s being the smallest, particularly since it’s USB. It’s deigned either to just sit there plugged in all the time (for desktop computers), or slipped into the bag (for laptops). No bid deal, really, but perhaps useful, indeed, for people who have to hide the fact they’re watching TV (while at work, perhaps!).
Korean IPTV to use Sun DRM
Sun Microsystems is developing an open source Digital Rights Management (DRM) system it intends to license out to IPTV operators. Dubbed DReaM (for DRM everywhere available) seems to have bagged its first client in Korean IPTV provider Alticast. While the conditional access system is still more than a year away from being finalized, the Korean firm is already displaying enthusiasm for building the system into their IPTV service.
Sun … plans to create a royalty-free, interoperable DRM technology, independent of any specific hardware or operating systems which focuses on the concept of a user being given access to content, rather than one specific device being authenticated. This is something that may come more easily to Sun, since it can rely on the Liberty Alliance initiative which is was also behind, for allowing a single copy of a persons identity to act as a trust source for other services, without having to reveal identities to other services.
At present, DReaM will only work on streamed content, and has no mechanism for protecting content that’s already recorded on enduser media (such as PVRs).
Watching the World Cup on Mobile TV
Mobile providers and manufacturers are anticipating record sales of digital-television enabled handsets this season, with the World Cup starting two months from now. However, with unexpected delays in licensing and hardware production, fans may be in for quite a disappointment.
Although major supplier Samsung Electronics earlier this year unveiled a terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) phone, the first of its kind for commercial services in Europe, the Korean company decided to delay manufacturing and shipping while it awaited the outcome of a complicated license allocation process in Germany, which is still not completed, according to German news service Heise Online.
Telcos are banking on the World Cup in their plans to launch their respective digital-TV setups. For instance, in Germany, viewers can watch German such channels as ZDF, N24, MTV for a subscription of EUR 9.90 per month. Mobile phone TV is much anticipated for a national rollout in the country after the World Cup.
TiVo and DirecTV extend deal
Satellite provider DirecTV and PVR-manufacturer TiVo extend their commercial agreement for three years.
The agreement will allow existing DirecTV customers using the TiVo digital video recorder to continue to receive maintenance and support from DirecTV. As part of the agreement, TiVo and DirecTV also said they wouldn’t sue each other over patent rights.
News, though, is that TiVo is on the losing end of the deal, as DirecTV is not likely to license any TiVo-owned material. Also, TiVo’s DirecTV customer base is dwindling at a rapid rate. Pretty soon, I would think PVRs would be best coupled with Video-on-Demand systems, and not to store/record pre-programmed cable/satellite shows like with TiVo’s present deal with DirecTV. A new business model and concept is needed, perhaps?
SmartPhone with Free TV reception
Here’s something for our friends addicted to watching TV. The Modeo DVB-H is a SmartPhone capable of receiving and displaying free TV signals.
Modeo, the US company evangelising the DVB-H digital TV standard Stateside, is to offer a Windows Mobile 5-based smart phone capable of receiving and displaying such broadcasts. The handset, manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC, will go on sale in the second half of the year, the company announced yesterday.
The phone contains an Nvidia GoForce 5500 graphics processing chip, to be able to display the digital DVB-H broadcasts. Modeo doesn’t indicate in the spec sheets whether the phone is able to save shows onto memory, though.
UK’s BSkyB to offer broadband
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has announced plans to go into the broadband business, thereby raising speculations that it will be offering television content via IPTV.
Aiming to take on market leaders BT, AOL, Wanadoo and NTL, the broadcaster said it would be launching the service in the second half of this year.
Responding to press speculation that it will be offering cut-price deals, BSkyB said it was not giving out any pricing details at this stage.
The company has not yet confirmed, though, whether it intends to offer IPTV, but given today’s trends in digital TV and content distribution, this is very much likely.
Skipping commercials is good for advertisers
Techdirt reports on various studies on behaviors and information retention related to televiewers skipping commercials, particularly those who own digital video recorders, such as the popular TiVo. It’s a widely-accepted practice to fast-forward through advertisements, but one study seems to conclude that DVR owners seem to remember advertisements as much as those that watch free TV. This must be because of the subliminal effect of having to watch a commercial zip through your eyes in fast-forward, or perhaps the concentration required in scanning the scenes being fast-forwarded to the start of the actual show itself.