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TV Everywhere Update: Networks Likely to Launch On Demand Online Video

Phillip Dampier July 5, 2009 Comcast/Xfinity 25 Comments

globeSome additional details are emerging about the content partners and networks likely to participate in the joint Time Warner Cable-Comcast TV Everywhere (as long as you are a pay cable/telco video/satellite TV subscriber) partnership.

Turner Broadcasting (long since out of the control of Ted Turner, who was essentially escorted to the door years ago) is a key partner, which means TNT and TBS original series will be an essential part of the new service.  The network’s programming is already streamed to around 5,000 cable TV customers participating in a market trial.

Among the original shows the TNT and TBS networks air:

The Closer
Raising the Bar
Saving Grace
Leverage
My Boys
The Bill Engvall Show
Tyler Perry’s House of Payne

Also agreeing to participate in the venture: Rainbow Media, Scripps Networks and A&E Television Networks. That means you should also expect to see shows from these cable networks:

AMC
WE tv
The Independent Film Channel
Sundance Channel
HGTV
Food Network
DIY Network
Fine Living Network
Great American Country
A&E Network
History (Channel)
History International (Channel)
Bio (Channel)
Military History (Channel)
Crime & Investigation Network

The ultimate goal? To obliterate YouTube and Hulu TV as the most popular video websites in the United States.  Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, fully expects TV Everywhere to be the nation’s largest and most popular destination for online video.

Some technical notes about accessing the service from Multichannel News:

At first, Comcast’s On-Demand Online content will be available only to customers who subscribe to both cable TV and broadband services, over only a Comcast-provided Internet connection through a subscriber’s cable modem, and via only the Comcast.net or Fancast.com portals. The MSO chose to “authenticate down to the subscriber level” to ensure the service will have a higher level of security out of the gate, said Comcast senior vice president of new media Matt Strauss.

Whereas Comcast had intended to provide On-Demand Online to subscribers solely through its own Web sites over its own broadband networks, Time Warner’s TV Everywhere imagines a decentralized way to let consumers log in to any participating sites to access content, including those run by the content owners.

Now Comcast has agreed to eventually allow video subscribers to access Time Warner’s content via TNT.tv and TBS.com, over any broadband connection they choose, although the specific mechanism for doing this hasn’t been determined yet.

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Jim
Jim
14 years ago

Wow they managed to pick up every show no one was searching for. I wish executives would take a step back and realize that putting up barriers around crappy content will only decrease the minuscule value their content started out with. These shows are so bad I don’t even think you can download them illegally… who would waste the time and bandwidth downloading those?

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago

He forgot BET… Now there is something I would pay for…NOT. I hope they
do it …Cable TV gets dumped saving $150 a month. Only things worth
watching are pay as you go. Ill stick with rent rips and P2P. Im such a bad
boy.

Smith6612
Smith6612
14 years ago

Well, seeing as though I don’t watch TV much anymore since Stargate and Battlestar Galactica ended, this isn’t much use to me. I wonder if something like this would run against the caps that Comcast has and Time Warner’s if they do ever cap. Though if this does become popular, I wonder if these companies are going to make their software support Multicast so that home routers can send the same data to multiple PCs/devices at the same time. At least with things like these, I see them good services to provide for those who travel a lot, and typically… Read more »

MMiller
MMiller
14 years ago
Reply to  Smith6612

A Comcast rep that posted on here has stated that this will count against your bandwidth caps.

Smith6612
Smith6612
14 years ago
Reply to  MMiller

Ah, I forgot about that comment! Thanks for reminding me 🙂

Jim
Jim
14 years ago

I wonder if we can get info from Time Warner about this going against their caps. They have already stated that their VOIP phone service will not count against your cap and Skype/Vonage will. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to not count this against the caps.

Wes S
Wes S
14 years ago

So… how does this differ from the FCC’s current investigation into exclusive phone handsets? This seems like the TV equivient of the same issue. What about basic cable? If I have the lowest 10 channel tier am I still alowed to watch whatever I want on their site? (not that I would want to…. until they get Discovery or something)

Tim
Tim
14 years ago

I don’t think these guys get it. People are going to Hulu because it is free. We are about to cancel our cable here because one you can watch the shows online, two you can save money and drop your TV package, and three upgrade your net to handle the bandwidth better since you are saving money by dropping the TV package. If all else fails, I can always fall back on Usenet. Most of the shows I watch, can be had on Usenet commercial free and in HD.

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago

You guys are so right. Im trying to convince my TV paying person to drop to very basic as there is nothing on all those 100’s of channels worth watching. It is all filler. Naturally im getting bad vibes so I think ill just switch it myself. I can do that. The cable bill is way to much every month for nothing. I watch some streaming TV sometimes but not often because there is not much there either. Firefox tv is a joke and Hula is a little better until something worth watching is flagged. Nothing more then a bunch… Read more »

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago

Just testing as my last comment did not go through.

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago

Mr Smith I do not watch much TV myself but find with 200 channels if 10 are worth anything I would be amazed. Its all filler that could block internet speeds. After all how much can you cram down a coax cable. Im using my POA to switch to basic TV as a $150 a month cable bill is to much. If im itching for a movie I can get in other ways and that is not very often. I do not own the place but spending is way out of control to continue very much longer. Im getting flack… Read more »

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago

After thinking about this something smells bad. All the providers complain that they are running out of room on the lines yet they now want to allow streaming of their content where they say no room is available. Somebody is lying. Is that streaming coming from a slower internet connection from regular users or didthey just forget about the capacity they had hidden in the background? People would be stupid to agree to such things. Guess they want that extra over usage charge money. This is going to blow up in their faces. Some here said they use 2 to… Read more »

Tim
Tim
14 years ago

That is you Phillip but for me, I do have some favorite TV shows: 24, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, and others. Downloading the HD versions of the shows is around 1.5GB each or more depending on how compressed the video is. Some shows could run dvd5 size, ie 4.4GB. I have downloaded at least a few hundred gigs in a month easy when those shows are on. Usually, during this time, I rarely download anything. But as far as me hogging the bandwidth up? Well if I had like a 1Mb/s connection, I would have to keep that connection… Read more »

Smith6612
Smith6612
14 years ago
Reply to  Tim

I see we have another BSG and Stargate fan here! 🙂 Great shows, sad to see them end. Now if only I’d get those shows in 1080p HD (with H.264 codec) online someplace and pay for them I’d love that. I don’t mind waiting a day or two to download 10+GB worth of data. I do that all the time with Steam, but even still, waiting that long to pull down 10GB does get annoying after doing it over and over.

Tim
Tim
14 years ago
Reply to  Smith6612

I was deeply saddened when they canceled SG-1 and then Atlantis, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of Atlantis but it was at least one of the better sci-fi shows playing at the time. BSG, I was sad it ended but at the same time, I was sort of glad. The show really took a strange twist after season 2 and just got even more strange. If you have a HDTV less than 60″, you won’t notice a difference between 720p and 1080p if you sit like 10 feet or more away from it. I have a 50″ and… Read more »

Smith6612
Smith6612
14 years ago
Reply to  Tim

I watch pretty much everything on my PC, as after all, that is honestly the only thing that can display HDTV content in my home. All of my TVs are standard definition which I plan on upgrading to some HDTVs in the future, and I use Dish Network as a TV provider. As per my box, I’m running an Intel i7 Extreme @3.06Ghz clock, 1066Mhz FSB, 16GB of 1066Mhz DDR3 RAM (I boosted this just a few days ago!), 3x nVidia GTX280s in SLi, 4TB of Seagate 1TB Barracuda drives in RAID 0@ 7200RPM. I’ve also got two 30″ monitors… Read more »

Tim
Tim
14 years ago
Reply to  Smith6612

Sweet system man. Makes me feel like mine is old but it can still hang with the big boys. My next computer, I plan on during dual monitors too or I might just hook the thing up to my 50″ Samsung Plasma. 🙂

Yea Stargate Universe is suppose to be coming out in the fall. I am hoping it is going to be good but I am not counting on it. They said they are doing the show differently from SG-1 and Atlantis so who knows.

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Mr. Smith has one kick butt system. I hope he did not forget the 8 or 10 LED
fans LOL. He has bragging rights.

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago
Reply to  Uncle Ken

I forgot How can this be? Bill Gates said himself the normal user would
only need 256K of memory. Maybe I should dig out my Z80 from the
basement.

Smith6612
Smith6612
14 years ago
Reply to  Uncle Ken

I didn’t forget that one bit. Case is fully Acrylic and is packed with LED lights (multiple colors. Much of the case is blue but I have some Pink and red LEDs by the two power supplies and some greens by the hard drives. I might sell those for some color changing ones and a light controller. As of right now I can only adjust the amount of power those LEDs get). I have a few large 250mm fans blowing air in and out of the case, and a few smaller ones for air intake. Might bump up to Water… Read more »

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago

“I think someone doing that much usage could be approached privately and dealt with instead of punishing every customer with loopy tiers and limits.” In the end you come up with a better way to say it then me then again im not that great a writer. There is so much difference between a 5 to 40 gig user and a terabyte user. With 5 gig you might as well turn it off even 40 gig. In 3 days if the shuttle lifts off ill be streaming NASA TV all day long but launches do not happen that often and… Read more »

Stew
Stew
14 years ago

There are a few things that are worth watching once in a while, 15 home shopping channels are not one of them. Where is the ala cart channel selection?

Speaking of watching the shuttle launch on line, there are a lot good possibilities for the internet. WorldWide Telescope comes to mind. My daughter works in the bioi-chem area and the internet is vital to the work. Usage limits will inhibit this kind of innovation to the detriment of all on the planet (well those in orbit also).

Uncle Ken
Uncle Ken
14 years ago

I would be interested learning about the internet. WorldWide Telescope
project. As I remember it was a 14 to 16 year old girl pure amateur using
low tech equipment that found something that all the pros missed for
years just not long ago. She gets naming rights for the discovery which
is cool.

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