PVR Wire

Remember how Cablevision tried to roll out a networked remote PVR (nPVR) service which would give you all the power of a PVR without actually needing a PVR in your living room.

Content owners hated the idea because they beleived that storing content on remote networked PVRs and allowing consumers to access it on demand breached their copyright.

Among the companies that filed a lawsuit against Cablevision over the nPVRs was Time Warner.

It was bad enough that Time Warner had previously tried to launch a remote PVR service called Mystero some years before, but now it is launching its own nPVR service called "Start Over". JJ Hawkins has covered the new service here.

The service is a slimmed down version of what Cablevision offered. It simply allows users to backtrack to the beginning of selected shows, an hour and fifteen minutes after the show started.

So to sum up:

• Time Warner thought an nPVR service was a good idea some years ago and tried it out, but abandoned the project due to legal pressure.
• Time Warner then decided it was a bad idea and this year joined other content producers in suing Cablevision over its own nPVR service.
• Now Time Warner think it's a good idea again and have decided to announce its own a slimmed down nPVR service.

Should Time Warner really be suing Cablevision? It seems very clear that Time Warner thinks a remote nPVR service is a good idea as long as they are the ones doing it.