Really remote control: Cable wants to drive, but will you go along for the ride?

Essentially, Cablevision has been trying out a new magic box that will allow customers to retrieve recorded TV shows from their cable company’s system, rather than from a TiVo-style hard drive.

The ramifications of such a switch in content control from consumer to cable company would be substantial. For one, if the cable company is doing the recording at its ‘head end’, presumably, the cost of the magic boxes goes down, and more people might pony up for ’em.

Said Burke,

“It’s a very good idea, very well thought through,” he said at a Bank of America conference, adding, “If it all works out, I’m sure the rest of the industry will follow.”

Well,