Cablevision to Launch RS-DVR Service in April

By Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 3/1/2010 10:21:00 AM

Cablevision Systems said it will begin rolling out its controversial Remote Storage-Digital Video Recorder in April and plans to have the service available throughout its 3 million- subscriber footprint by year-end.

On a conference call to discuss fourthquarter results, chief operating officer Tom Rutledge said Cablevision will roll out the RS-DVR service in three phases, starting with the ability to pause live TV, which is currently in some employees’ homes. In April, a limited-function RSDVR will be available. “By year-end we intend to cease buying physical DVRs as we begin deploying our network-based DVR solution throughout our footprint,” Rutledge said.

Cablevision was the first MSO to attempt to launch a remote DVR, which most cable operators believe is a more cost-efficient technology than DVR settops. The company attempted to test the service in 2006, but was blocked by programmers who claimed the service constituted copyright infringement.

It won that case on appeal in 2008. Since then, Cablevision has kept quiet on the service, opting to confine trials to its Long Island corporate campus and select employee homes.

Separately, Rutledge also said on the call that Cablevision is investigating offering a wireless telephone service, and has begun testing a phone that would switch between Wi-Fi networks and cellular telephone networks.

“The testing is so far proving to be good and consistent with our view of what is possible, and [it] gives us some hope that we will be able to launch additional products using the Wi-Fi network that will look like what some people think of as cellular telephone,” Rutledge said.

Cablevision outpaced estimates for the fourth quarter, reporting revenue of $2.2 billion (up 5%) and adjusted operating cash fl ow of $682.8 million, an increase of 13.5%. The MSO lost about 2,800 basic customers in the period, but grew digital subscribers (up 4,800); highspeed data customers (up 45,700) and telephony subscribers (up 51,400).