Solicitor-General sides with Cablevision on DVR

The Solicitor General has sided with Cablevision in the cable operator's long-running dispute with several program-makers over the roll-out of its network-based video recorder. Solicitor General Elena Kagan on Friday denied plaintiffs including Time Warner, News Corp, CBS Corp and Walt Disney Co, their petition for a Supreme Court hearing. The media companies have argued that Cablevision's proposed service -- which, like TiVo's, would allow viewers to record any program on TV -- would infringe the copyrights of the movies and television programs they produce. They had been hoping to overturn a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York which would allow Cablevision subscribers to record and play back programs on the remote system based within Cablevision's own cable plant.