Subscribe
Despite claims that broadband is not eroding Time Warner Cable’s cable television business, the nation’s second largest cable operator has begun a “TV Everywhere” trial to expand broadband viewing options for “authenticated cable subscribers” and plans IPTV tests by the end of this year.
A “small number” of subscribers are now participating in the TV Everywhere trial in the New York City area, accessing premium channel content online, if they also subscribe to the channel.
James Manchester, regional president of network operations and engineering in the company’s New York City system told Broadcasting & Cable that the tests will verify whether the authentication process functions properly.
Manchester expressed urgency that unless Time Warner Cable moves to manage video content online, the company will continue to lose subscribers.
He told B&C cable’s erosion of video subscribers, at a time when digital voice and broadband subscriptions continue to grow, makes it essential to move to more of an IPTV environment.
“It’s no secret that we’re losing video subscribers as an industry,” he said. “We can’t afford to wait.”
Time Warner Cable sees challenges from several potential competitive threats:
- Online video: Services like Hulu and Netflix, and time-shifting services that allow viewers access to on-demand programming online represent a real threat to the traditional cable-TV model. Customers can cut the cable cord and watch everything online for free or for around $10 a month.
- IPTV: Niche and ethnic programming delivered over IPTV networks allows third parties to create mini broadband-based cable systems using hardware that mimics a cable box, delivering potentially dozens of channels to subscribers without giving a cut to the cable company.
SkyAngel used to deliver its lineup of Christian television channels over satellite, but switched to an IPTV platform in 2007. This video explains how the service works. (3 minutes)
TV Everywhere allows Time Warner Cable to control who has access to cable programming, restricting it only to those who haven’t cut cable’s cord.
Time Warner Cable’s solution for IPTV competition is to bring those services under TWC’s own menu of offerings.
One example in KyLin TV, a multi-channel Chinese language IPTV service. Today, customers pay KyLin TV for service they watch over Road Runner’s network. But Time Warner Cable could potentially get a piece of the action if it moved KyLin TV into its own IPTV package.
Manchester says TWC would like to be able to make such IPTV programming services an extension of the TWC offering.
Despite some earlier assertions made by company officials that DOCSIS 3 upgrades were designed to improve broadband service for Time Warner Cable customers, it turns out DOCSIS 3 is the foundation for the cable company’s future IPTV and “big pipe” platform. Manchester says DOCSIS 3 will enable the company to service the wired home of the future. It will deliver content to an edge device (such as an advanced router) with a hard drive and caching capacity that will link to home computers, MP3 players, or any other device on which consumers want to view content.
Other stories of interest:
- Pondering Glenn Britt, CEO of Time Warner Cable
- Time Warner Cable Discovers “Wideband” Broadband Is Exciting Despite Pooh-Poohing It Earlier
- Trivial Pursuit… For Now: The ‘Hulu Beats Time Warner Cable’ Story Explained
- Time Warner Cable Nation’s Third Largest Internet Service Provider – 62 Percent of Its Customers Take Broadband
- Time Warner Cable: Powered By Prices Increases – $18 Billion in Revenue for 2009, $19 Billion for 2010
I still believe that there is a good chance that this whole “TV Everywhere” push is anti-competitive and illegal as a result of that.
Attempting to stifle the online video sector by employing anti-competitive measures and placing barriers to entry on newer, more innovative companies, is something that the FCC should be investigating.
“TV Everywhere” deserves to fail. It is all about maintaining the bottom line for traditional broadcasters and cable companies and adds nothing for the consumer (no matter what they would try to make you believe to the contrary).
Until the FCC can get its oversight powers back with the reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service, the FCC can’t do much more than send an angry Hallmark card to the CEOs of the respective cable companies asking them (pretty please) to stop.
I don’t mind more online video, but it should be up to the programmers to provide it, not the cable companies. But if they ultimately do, it’s just one more arrow in our quiver to deflate their usage cap nonsense. If there is plenty of room on their broadband networks for TV Everywhere, there is no justification for their Internet Overcharging schemes.
Agreeing with Philip – this just shows what nonsense Time Warner’s “exaflood” claims were. Timer Warner’s network has PLENTY of capacity but only if you’re willing to overpay for it.
I don’t have cable but when I travel and get to watch some cable, I am struck by the abysmal quality of the programming. Total crap.
I do use a combination of over the air TV for regular programming and Netflix streaming for discs and video streaming over the internet.
So let me get this straight. If I wanted to order SkyAngel I would need to subscribe to their service for 14.99 a month for their webservice, or any one of their other packages that run between 14.99 and 24.99. They will send me a set top box for me to hook to my TV and even sell me cables.
# 6-foot CAT5 (Ethernet): $10.00
# 6-foot RCA audio/video: $8.50
# 6-foot S-video: $8.50
I need an internet connection as well. Ok Great.
Now my Aunt is Chinese, she would like to subscribe to KyLin TV, so lets see whats available here.
I think the Great wall package might suit her…$29.99 a month 12 month contract…oh well I guess thats ok.. Great they send me a set top box for me to hook to my TV…I might need another box as she does spend some time in bed.lets see…
Set-Top-Box Deposit – $50 each
Monthly – $8.99/month
12 Months – $98.99 Prepaid, no refund if cancelled. Must request and prepay
the additional STB at the same time annual plan is ordered.
18 Months – $143.99 Prepaid, no refund if cancelled. Must request and prepay
the additional STB at the same time 18-month plan is ordered.
Thats a bit steep but OK.
I better keep my cable as my son wants ESPN and the world cup in HD.so lets see, I need to hook up these two boxes and my cable in the living room…I need to run an ethernet cable upstairs to Aunties bedroom. Oh Hang on I need to hook the Wii to the TV and the DVD.
Now I am out of inputs.
Wouldn’t it be a good Idea if I get this stuff through one box?
Sure, if a customer was not compelled to purchase any other service from the cable company to qualify for access and was not blocked from using the service’s own IPTV terminal if they didn’t want to rent a cable box from the cable company.
The strategy here, to take a page from cable czar John Malone, is to control and manage video programming. Time Warner isn’t seeking to altruistically provide easy access to these kinds of services just because it would be nice. They want to know what’s in it for them, and there is plenty:
1) From a marketing standpoint, getting customers in the mindset that this ethnic/niche programming is something you buy from the cable company keeps consumers from looking for alternatives. Plus, the cable company gets easy access to market their own channels to these customers.
Entire industry conferences are devoted to how the cable industry can manage the IPTV threat to their advantage. The key, for most industry players, is to keep consumers associating television programming packages with the local cable company. Once you lose the consumer to a broadband-based service, it becomes a commodity. You can buy SkyAngel or KyLin and make it work on the cable, phone company, or any other broadband provider.
If Time Warner can convince any IPTV player to use its network and cooperate on marketing and exclusivity agreements, potential discounts would realistically lead consumers to get them over the cable.
2) Once an IPTV provider’s business is tied to a contract with a cable operator for many or even most of their subscribers, that cable company has enormous leverage over that provider, especially if using existing set top boxes to access it. Don’t go along and your IPTV lineup through the cable box is disconnected.
From a technical/engineering standpoint, managing fewer boxes and cables is a good thing, but that has to be tempered with the political realities that those who control the pipeline have in mind to manage IPTV to reduce its threat to their core business.
Malone made it very clear — you can do anything you want if you own the infrastructure to deliver the content to subscribers. If your programmers get difficult, you can throw them off (just ask the Game Show Network and HDNet). In the 1980s, you couldn’t even get your new cable network added to the lineup unless the industry got a buy-in. I can’t tell you how many times I heard about new cable networks having to sell part ownership to a TCI or Time Warner in order to get on the cable dial back then. Will the industry demand part-ownership of IPTV players? It’s not unprecedented.
Consumers will increasingly see IPTV as an alternative to traditional cable or telco-TV packages, not an add-on option to them.
Keep in mind the average subscriber to Sky Angel would never allow cable television packages into their homes. Sky Angel customers are evangelical Christians and sought the service specifically because they reject the kind of secular programming shown on today’s basic cable lineup.
These people got upset when Sky Angel added Fox News, Hallmark and a few other family friendly networks. Even a conservative-friendly news network and family shows on Hallmark were unacceptable to many of their extremely religious subscribers.
KyLin delivers niche programming to Chinese-speaking audiences. Most of them aren’t going to be interested in a cable package with hundreds of English-speaking channels either.
TV everywhere is an amazing app! I have had TV everywhere with DISH since they have brought out with it. I work for DISH so I got to understand what it does. With the TV everywhere you can use your smart phone, laptop or tablet. Since I already have to 722 HD receiver all I needed was the Sling adapter. The Sling adapter cost me $99.00 and I have not monthly fees for the app.