Macrovision Negotiates PVR Storage Limits With TiVo, ReplayTV

In negotiations with the major studios brokered by Macrovision, ReplayTV and TiVo have agreed to impose changes in the “trigger bits” built into Macrovision analog copy protection in a PVR to activate one of 4 new copy-control “settings” to be determined by the content owner, Flaherty said. She billed the agreements as a win- win for the content industry and consumers; the studios were concerned that with hard-drive capacities of 400 hours or more, consumers would amass vast libraries of content that could be redistributed without authorization, and they originally sought strict restrictions that would have allowed little or no copying, she said. For consumers, she said, the agreements also represent a victory because they would assure a steadier availability of content and services for years to come. She said the agreement with ReplayTV parent D&M Holdings was reached last year, while the TiVo pact was finalized only last week.

The copy-control settings negotiated range from a provision that would permit consumers to “copy freely,” to stipulations they be confined to 90 min. worth of storage before the PVR automatically would be triggered to write over the material, Flaherty said. A 3rd setting would let a consumer view content within a 24-hour period during storage limited to 7 days, while a 4th would allow unlimited viewing during the 7 days. The PVR makers and the brands they OEM for will install the settings through a software change on new machines, Flaherty said. There’s a provision in the future for making the changes in legacy machines through software downloads from the Internet, she said. Flaherty told our affiliate Consumer Electronics Daily that future chip implementations in development would allow many more settings. She again billed this as being in the best interests of Hollywood and advocates of fair use. She said the agreements apply only to NTSC, not PAL PVRs.

The Macrovision changes were disclosed at the IRMA session in L.A., where content providers and digital rights management (DRM) experts announced increased efforts to reign in “casual consumer piracy,” including through PVR storage. On a “Copy Stoppers” panel, Flaherty said: “We cannot have units with 40 hours capacity anymore. People cannot be allowed to create electronic libraries because if they can get it for free they won’t pay for it. The landscape on casual consumer piracy has changed over the last 2 years. In order to stop it we've got to close the holes available to consumers in their home equipment, develop multiple layers of protection and give consumers a reason to buy instead of steal.”

Later, Rich LaMagna, dir.-digital investigations for Microsoft, said: “Theft and leakage out of the supply chain is our greatest threat.” Current efforts to reduce DVD piracy focus on areas such as replication plants, where stampers have gone missing, and recyclers, which sometimes resell “scrap” products -- overruns and other surplus product -- which are then sold on the black market. Of great concern to the software industry is the theft of certificates of authenticity, LaMagna said: “Those are just like currency. I have spoken before Congress twice to try and get legislation passed that will make it illegal to sell any part of a software package as a stand-alone product and I think we're going to get it passed.”