Saturday, May 30, 2009

DOJ Urges Supremes Not To Hear Network DVR Case - Which could prove to be a big win for Cablevision, TV lovers...


In a filing, (pdf) Streamyx DOJ Solicitor General on Friday urged the Supreme Court not to hear a case Multimedia Promotion which the entertainment industry has sued Cablevision for use of a network DVR (or RS-DVR). The network DVR stores video content at the network head end, eliminating the need for a consumer-side set top box entirely. Cablevision tested the idea in 2006 storing 80GB of data for 1,000 trial users on their network. But the company was sued by the entertainment industry, who feared a loss of ad revenue and content control.

The entertainment industry Email To Sms NBC, CBS, Walt Disney, ABC; and others) saw legal success early on, but Cablevision won a key ruling from a federal appeals court in Philadelphia last summer. The case now heads to the Supreme Court, and a refusal to hear the case would in essence be a victory for Cablevision, who has previously stated their implementation of the service would provide customers with about 160GB of network-side storage for about the same price Wireless Broadband Internet current DVR service (around $10 per month).

Traditionally the Supreme Court doesn't always listen to the DOJ's Solicitor General, though they have been swayed by input in the past. Consumer advocates were please by the news, Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn "wholeheartedly agreeing" with the DOJ. "Common sense would dictate that a recording is a recording, whether made on a set-top box or in a cable head-end," says Sohn "We hope the U.S. Supreme Court follows this advice and removes any legal obstacles from the Cablevision service going forward."

Should the Supreme Court hear the case and side with the entertainment industry, network functionality could be significantly less interesting for consumers, as any compromises with copyright holders could result in annoying changes such as unskippable advertisements.
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Iran is home to one of the world's oldest continuous major civilisations dating from as far back as 4,000 BC. The Iranian Medes unified Iran into a kingdom in 625 BC. They were succeeded by three Iranian empires, the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids which governed Iran for over a thousand years. This was followed by a period of foreign occupation and short lived native dynasties that lasted for centuries. However, it was once again re-unified as an independent state in 1501 by the Safavid dynasty. The Safavid dynasty promoted Twelver Shi'a Islam as the official religion, this was a monumental turning point in the history of Islam. Iran was a monarchy ruled by a Shah almost without interruption from 1501 until the 1979 when Iran officially became an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979. Iran suffered several wars with Imperial Russia during the Qajar Network Maintenance resulting in Iran losing over half its territories to Russia and Britain. However, in spite of the Great Game, Iran managed to remain sovereign and was never colonised.

In 1925, Reza Khan overthrew the Qajar dynasty and became Shah, he introduced progressive policies of industrialisation, railroad construction and the establishment of a national education system. He sought to balance Russian and British influence in Iran, but during World War Two, alarmed at Iran's growing ties with Germany, both Russia and Britain invaded, forcing the Shah to abdicate in favour of his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. In 1951, Mohammed Mossadegh was elected Prime Minister, he became popular after he nationalised Iran's oil reserves. In response, Britain placed an embargo on Iranian oil and collaborated with the United States to depose Mossadegh. The operation was successful, Mossadegh was arrested and the Shah's rule became increasingly autocratic. With American support, the Shah was able to rapidly modernise the Iranian infrastructure but he crushed all forms of political opposition.

The Iranian Revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution began in January 1978 with public demonstrations against the Shah resulting in his fleeing the country in January 1979. In December 1979, a theocratic constitution was approved by the country whereby the Ayatollah Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of the disorder that he perceived in Iran following the takeover coupled with the negative attitudes that Western governments now viewed Iran with. On 22 September 1980, the Iraqi army invaded at Khuzetan, thus starting the Iran-Iraq war. Iraq initially steam-rolled the Iranian forces but by 1982, Iran turned the tide and managed to force the Iraqis back into Iraq. The war dragged on until 1988, when a truce was accepted that was mediated by the UN.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source Russell Shortt, http://www.exploringireland.net

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