Is 'Transitional Fair Use' The Wave Of The Future?
Written By Rick Ellis, Monday, November 28th, 2004
When HBO's "Six Feet Under" returns in 2005, it won't just be the end
of a long-running hit series. It may also be a turning point for TV
viewers who are in the habit of recording shows to watch weeks or even
months later.
Sources at two different cable companies have told AllYourTV.com that
discussions have begun which will may lead to a restriction of use for
fans of several popular television shows.
The discussions are reportedly in very early stages, and the details
are still very broad. But this is what I can confirm at this date.
A middle-level executive at Time Warner has approached several cable
companies and broached the idea of restricting the ability of
customers who use those company's Digital Video Recorders to record
several popular Time Warner TV programs.
The term being used by the executive is "transitional fair use," and
the scenerio laid out goes roughly along these lines:
Viewers would be able to record an episode with their DVR, but there
would be a time limit on how long it would be available for viewing.
The executive was pushing for an expiration date that coincided with
the premiere of the next episode. The consensus of the cable
executived was that it needed to be between 2-4 weeks.
...
http://www.allyourtv.com/0405season/news/november/11282004transitional.html
Monty Solomon (