DOJ Urges US High Court Not To Hear Suit On Cablevision DVR

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to consider a legal challenge by major television networks and Hollywood studios to a next-generation digital-video recorder, or DVR, planned by Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC).

Cablevision's service would, for the first time, allow customers to record and store television shows on central computer servers maintained by Cablevision instead of having to record them on expensive DVR cable boxes installed in their homes.

Cablevision won a key ruling from a federal appeals court in Philadelphia last summer that gave the company the green light to move forward with its technology.

The company says the system would allow it to provide DVR services at lower costs, which could lead to a rise in new subscribers to the technology.

DVR systems are popular with consumers because the technology allows viewers to watch programs whenever they choose and to skip commercials while they do so.

The networks and studios argue that Cablevision's service violates federal copyright laws, and they want the Supreme Court to hear the case and overturn the lower court ruling.

In January, the high court invited the U.S. solicitor general, the federal government's lawyer at the Supreme Court, to weigh in on whether the justices should hear the case.

In a legal brief filed Friday with the court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan said the court shouldn't get involved in the dispute.

"Network-based technologies for copying and replaying television programming raise potentially significant questions, but this case does not provide a suitable occasion for this court to address them," Kagan wrote.

The Supreme Court doesn't always follow the solicitor general's advice, but it is often persuaded by it.

Among those suing to block Cablevision's service are General Electric Co.'s (GE) NBC; CBS Corp. (CBS); Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) ABC; and News Corp.'s (NWSA) Twentieth Century Fox.

News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

It isn't clear when the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear the case.

The case is Cable News Network Inc. v. CSC Holdings Inc., 08-448.

-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; [e-mail]