Many people do not realize that it is possible to provide digital video recorder (DVR) services without the DVR. This is done by recording shows on the servers at the cable company and not on a TiVo-like device at the customer's television, accessing it just like any video on demand (VOD) show. The inside baseball name for this is Networked DVR.

Cablevision has been particularly aggressive in pushing this approach because it keeps customers particularly wedded to the cable company. But now, four Hollywood studios and the three major television networks have filed a copyright suit seeking to prevent Cablevision Systems from launching their "on-demand" service.

Individual consumers have long been free to record TV shows, movies and music for personal use. But Cablevision's so-called Network DVR service has raised objections from some content providers who say it puts control over their material into the hands of another company that has not paid for or licensed it.

"Cablevision is actually copying, storing and retransmitting it," said Kori Bernard, a spokeswoman for studio industry group the Motion Picture Association of America. "A commercial entity can't establish a for-profit, on-demand service without authorization from copyright owners whose content is used on that service."

Cablevision executives insist their proposed service would function more like TiVo because it enables individual subscribers, not the cable operator, to choose which programs to record and play back, with a technology that is cheaper than conventional DVRs.

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