A senior executive at Comast has announced the company's optimism over a transformative and controversial new technology being tested by cable operator Cablevision. Network DVRs, as they're called,
permit users to retrieve programming from the cable company's computers rather than from costly set-top boxes, meaning the boxes can be replaced by less expensive hardware, and premium services can be
made available to more subscribers. "It's a very good idea, very well thought through," Steve Burke, chief operating officer of Comcast, told a conference in New York." If it all works out, I'm sure
the rest of the industry will follow." Comcast, the country's biggest cable provider, often sets the pace for the industry; Burke's remarks have thus been widely circulated. Still, says the AP, "the
idea [of network DVRs] remains controversial, with programming providers concerned about copyright violations. Also, programmers are already worried that the growing use of ad-skipping technologies
could upset advertisers."
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