SubscribeTime Warner Cable has appointed Andrew Heller, a 25-year veteran of the cable industry to oversee the cable-owned video project dubbed TV Everywhere.
TV Everywhere is the brainchild of Time Warner Cable, which wants to create a new central video distribution platform leveraging broadband to deliver streamed, on demand TV shows and movies, but only to verified customers of cable companies that already take a video channel package.
Andrew Heller, TWC's Head of 'TV Everywhere'
The cable industry is afraid that broadband customers might decide to watch all of their television online, and simply drop or bypass traditional cable television packages. TV Everywhere is designed to stop that, by prohibiting non cable-video subscribers from accessing cable network programming online.
The first test of the new service is due during the second quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the cable operator is engaged in intense discussions with programmers to state their case that it is unfair for them to pay monthly subscription fees for programming, when those same programmers are giving away clips and shows on the web for free.
Assuming the company is successful in its negotiations, programming websites would discontinue much of their traditional online video and get customers to “authenticate” they are verified cable TV subscribers before being permitted to access on demand video.
In a new wrinkle, Heller told Advertising Age that TV Everywhere is not going to be free, even to existing cable subscribers. In fact, he’s concerned that consumers may stage protests similar to what Time Warner Cable received after testing metered pricing for Internet service.
The price of TV Everywhere has also been a subject of recent debate after Time Warner Cable canceled plans, after a huge outcry by customers, to test metered consumption of broadband video in certain markets.
“The consumer’s going to speak with their pocketbook,” Mr. Heller said. “We do know they want a new model, we do know they want more choice and they use their computer as an additional outlet. We will do what we can to listen to them.”
The question is, do consumers “want a new model” for online video, or are they satisfied accessing content the way they do now — through video programmer websites, or purchasing viewing rights for series from iTunes, Netflix, or Amazon? Are consumers clamoring for a cable-controlled video platform that only provides access, for a price, to customers who already pay for a cable subscription including video channels? Will this “listening tour” be like the last one the company attempted during the metered billing fiasco?
Other stories of interest:
- No More Online Video for You, Unless You’re a Cable Subscriber…
- ‘The Business Insider’ Predicts Capped Road Runner Customers Could See Monthly Bills “Over $200 for Internet Access”
- HissyFitWatch: Cablevision Delivers Customers Cap Free Blazing Speeds; TWC Says Forget It
- Time Warner Cable Reports Healthy Growth in Broadband in 1st Quarter 2009
- Frontier Communications Still Losing Telephone Subscribers, But Adds Data Customers
We needs ISPs that are just that ISPs. Any sort of bundling services with cable tv and the like only create a monopoly on just about all digital content you can imagine.
Are there no supernerds with tons of cash who can make this happen? I really don’t see why some company doesn’t barge into NC. They’d(a no cap/bullshit company) take every last bit of business away from any TWC customer who knows anything about the internet. I’d give a fiber company a thousand bucks just for installation, I’d dig the trenches myself
It doesn’t create a monopoly, but it does create a conflict of interest. The barriers to entry in this industry are extremely high and in order to start laying cable or fiber you need to municipality’s permission (which may be hard to come by if they signed an exclusive deal with TWC or Comcast for example).
I think more municipal broadband providers like Greenlight in Wilson, NC need to come into existence and live off of the proceeds of their own business, not off of taxpayer money so they have the exact same playing field as a bigger company like TWC.
I love the thought of a “new model” where I can watch TV online. However that “new model” already exists and its free.
Time Warner’s new TV Everywhere isn’t new or innovative. They’re just trying to insert themselves as a useless middleman to take money they feel entitled to. They obviously offer no additional value, only an inconvenience and now they’re trying to burden customers with additional costs.
So by using Time Warner logic: a good business decision is to take a great free product, then make it cost more, make it harder to use, and take a larger cut of the profits by subtracting value and shrinking the customer base. Awesome job guys.
The problem with that is their competitor ends up offering more services and people go there since they can get a “all in one” package, ie phone tv and internet. The only way a company could be only a ISP is to lowball the others. Otherwise, people will go to the combined package plans thinking they are getting some kind of deal.
Time Warner can’t even get their cable service right. I’ve been having problems receiving any non-local HD channels over the last week or so. All the local channels come in fine, but the others like SciFi or Discovery say the service is unavailable, try again later, something along those lines. This is from a “brand-new” box from a couple months ago.
I contacted the Time Warner tech services online and was told I needed to have the box serviced. If I’m going to have to put up with faulty hardware and a loss of service every couple months, I figure I might as well save the money I spend on cable and buy the DVDs of the few shows I actually enjoy watching and miss any commercials. (Or watch them online with only a few commercials.)
Anyways, I told the tech person that I was thinking about cancelling because of the HD issue and the “cosumption-based billing” for broadband and she gave me the usual company line about the “majority of light users subsidising the minority of heavy users”. I called her out on it, asked for more information, then she sent me a link to Time Warners bundle packages. You cannot believe how insulted I was…I told her I was considering cancelling because of the service I was receiving and she sends me to a page about buying more services.
Sorry about the long post, but I’m glad to have it off my chest! (Now where did I put those digital rabbit ears…)
I had the same problems with service unavailable messages here in Greensboro. I was told by the tech that the problem was with what they call “switch digital” channels and that it was a known problem. It took me threatening attorneys to get a supervisor out here with a three man tech crew to completely rewire my house. Even with the rewiring, I am still having some of the same problems, so I have to assume it is on their end somewhere on the back end.
Those TV services were ‘extra’ icing on the cake for me when I dropped the TV part of them. I got tired of endless commercials. It was quite eye opening when I got my media center setup. I was skipping a a good 20% of the shows from TW. It was like I was in a pot of boiling water and had not noticed as they had slowly turned up the temp.
Eventually I just stopped watching altogether. I just buy the whole season on DVD. Been considering renting them from someone like netflix. Hulu and others are just icing which i watch MAYBE once a month. It is not like I can not just order a season of something on DVD… As Hulu compared to my DVD collection is quite anemic.
It was quite literally 70 channels and nothing on for me. I gave up on them. It also saves me about 60 bucks a month. Which I can use to buy DVDs.
But maybe TW should not think ‘hey people are getting it off the internet’. Maybe they should remember why we got cable in the first place. It did not have commercials, and now they are a GOOD portion of the shows… Commercials can be entertaining in themselves sometimes. But they are not why I watch TV.
If you buy 15 dollar DVDs (you can find plenty of good movies for 5-10) you can amass 150 DVDs in under 3 years for 60 bucks a month.
But now they are stepping right into the middle of the net neutrality mix. They think they got a backlash on capping, boy are they in for it….
Time Warner recognizes that there will be a time in the not so distant future when televisions will become obsolete. Instead, people will get all of their news and information on the Internet. In the meantime, rest assured that TWC will put pressure on advertisers to do what they can to shut down sites like Hulu, Joost, etc..
From Hulu, a Victim of Its Own Success? | Epicenter | Wired.com :
“Powerful forces are working against free, legal online TV . . . “
“In theory, at least, the availability of such shows on Hulu threatens two of the key financial underpinnings of cable TV: DVD sales and carriage fees. Comcast and its brethren pay the cable networks to carry their programming, and the idea that Internet users can watch the same shows online for free is not popular in places like, well, Philadelphia — or at least that corner of it where Comcast is headquartered. Stock analysts aren’t exactly thrilled with the concept, either.”
Also of interest: Hulu: So popular it’s killing itself?
I’m glad that there are no more trials currently being executed, however, I am very fearful that TWC has not put this in it’s grave. TWC needs to understand that what they think is “fair pricing” dosn’t matter if the consumer dosn’t think it’s fair because the consumer won’t buy it. As for “re-educating” consumers, my grandmother has an applicable saying:
“Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still”
So TWC thinks it has the right to decide who can watch CBS programming online, and they must be a cable TV subscriber from TWC in order to watch CBS programming online? Even if they are not a TWC user, or even the TWC users of both TV and ISP services will only be able to watch programming online allowed by TWC?
Since when did TWC have the right to tell people what websites they could visit, or other companies what of their service they could provide for free?
TWC thinks it can dictate to everyone that produces video programming that they must conform to TWC rules?
Seems the worse case is here and all this cap garbage is spurred on by the DTV initiative from the government and TWC is taking every advantage it can to prevent technologies from actually helping the people as long as every new thing does not earn profits for TWC. It is time the FCC and FTC get in this together and explain what anti-monopoly laws exist for and start showing TWC what the inside of federal prisons look like with sentences for these habitual offenders starting at the executive level of TWC.
Consider also that re-broadcasters (local TV stations) need to pay fees to the networks as well to send out the content (American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, Extreme Home Makeover, etc.). However, TV stations are still sending out all this content for free over the air (OTA) and very often in digital HD. They make their money off of advertisers.
Why can’t cable manage to make money on the same model? I think it has a lot more to do with trying to subsidize their less popular but expensive cable-only content such as that provided by Comcast and others.
If I can watch Lie to Me on CBS for free OTA, then why can’t I watch it online for free? TWC has no right or grounds to demand broadcasters not provide their content online for free. It really is just as fair to cable to have to pay for subscriptions to the network content as it is to re-broadcasters but you don’t see re-broadcasters whining about the same content online for free.
This should really be a HissyFitWatch article because it’s definitely a “woe is us” article from the cable industry. How pathetic!
You beat me to the point that many of the networks already provide their content free of charge over the air (OTA). What difference to TWC does it make if I watch my show on NBC OTA (free*) or NBC.COM (free*)? There really shouldn’t be any difference. What’s the diference then when I watch NBC on cable (free) or on NBC.COM (free*)?
*Free meaning no extra charges on top of provided services (unmetered broadband, cable)
OMG what is with TWC. this is getting way to out of hand, These clowns at TWC need to take their thumbs out of their backsides and suck on them like that babies they are. To me it seems as though they don’t really want customers cause i have a strong feeling that over half will drop their P.O.S. service and go else where. They can’t provide decent cable service as well as internet service, And as we all know the whole caps issue is only put on the self. So when they start those caps and with the so called internet t.v. service. Something tells me they might even place that news service against the caps. unless they roll out an unlimited bandwidth service at a deceint price. In which i don’t see happening any time soon.