Supreme Court deals setback to cable-TV firms on video recording
Companies want to offer customers a service that doesn't require a set-top box. The court asks the Justice Department to determine whether it would violate the Copyright Act.
Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court refused Monday to clear the way for cable-TV companies to offer their customers a new, easier way to record broadcasts for later viewing -- and without needing a video recorder in their homes.
Instead, the court asked the Justice Department to weigh in on whether this new video recording service would violate the copyrights of the TV networks and Hollywood film studios.
Three years ago, the networks and studios went to court in New York, seeking to block Cablevision Systems Corp. from introducing its new Remote Storage-Digital Video Recorder. They said the Copyright Act gave them "exclusive rights" to control and profit from their copyrighted works.
The court's move will delay for months a final decision. Lawyers for the incoming Obama administration will be asked to study the legal question and then advise the court on their conclusion.
The pending case could have a wide effect on the emerging era of video on demand. In 1984, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the use of home videocassette recorders when it rejected a copyright challenge from the TV and film industry.
Afterward, VCRs became standard equipment in most homes. Now, the cable TV companies want to go a step further and record shows for their customers at their request. The copies would be stored in companies' central computers, rather than in a digital record at home.
Cablevision's chief operating officer, Tom Rutledge, called it a "tremendous victory for consumers" last year when a U.S. appeals court rejected the TV networks' copyright challenge. "This is a real opportunity to transform television," he added.
Fearing that prospect, the networks and studios appealed to the Supreme Court in October. They said Cablevision was violating the law because it did not plan to pay a licensing fee to make copies of their TV shows.
The legal debate has turned on a simple question: Who is doing the copying? A federal judge ruled against Cablevision in 2006 and said it was copying TV shows for consumers. Last year, the appeals court ruled for Cablevision and said consumers would be copying their favorite shows for themselves.
Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. said they planned to introduce a similar service if Cablevision prevailed in the legal battle.
