Cablevision DVR to Store TV Remotely

Watch out TiVo -- Cablevision has plans to make the popular digital video recorder and other hard drive-based models a thing of the past. The company will soon introduce a box that would store recorded programming at the cable facility, rather than in the home.

According to Cablevision, the new service is expected to cut down on the costs associated with installing and repairing hard-drive based DVRs. The cable operator says these DVRs are not as prone to malfunction, and would operate through current set-top boxes without additional equipment.

The company said it had informed the networks of its plans, and argued it was no different than a traditional DVR. Some networks have raised objections to cable companies' plans to record their programming without a renegotiated carriage agreement.

Cablevision also said its service differed from previous offerings since it would only record a program when the customer requests it. Another plan by Time Warner, called Maestro, records just about any program broadcasted without any interaction from the user.

The Cablevision remote DVR service will be tested in the Long Island, New York market for two months, with expectations to expand it across the operator's entire footprint by the end of the year.