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Cable industry giants are moving forward on their plan to make sure only their cable subscribers get their content free on the Internet. Time Warner and Comcast Corp., the two biggest cable operators in the U.S., announced a partnership for the "TV Everywhere" effort, which was floated by Time Warner some months ago to help its Time Warner Cable division.
TV Everywhere looks to authenticate cable customers who want to watch full-length cable TV shows online.
The big change will be that non-cable subscribers will be forced to pay for shows, such as for Time Warner's TNT's "The Closer" and "Saving Grace," or shows on Comcast's programming networks, including E!, Versus, Golf Channel and G4.
Beginning in July, Comcast said it would conduct a trial among 5,000 customers with its "On Demand Online," which carries programming from Time Warner's Turner networks TNT and TBS, including "The Closer" and "Saving Grace," as well as "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns" and "My Boys."
The shows will be available on Comcast.net, Fancast.com and will soon be available on TNT.tv and TBS.com.
Some cable-programming analysts say the cable operators' plans are a bit confusing and contradictory, since any computer user can see full episodes of "The Closer" and "Saving Grace" right now -- for free -- on TNT.tv. The same holds for TBS.com, where users can see full episodes of "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns" and "My Boys" gratis.
The companies said the joint effort is "consumer friendly" and that it intended to bring more TV content to more people across platforms, "where video subscribers can watch programming from their favorite TV networks online for no additional charge."
Time Warner and Comcast said the new process would extend the current viewer measurement systems to include advertiser ratings for TV content viewed on all platforms.
The companies said in a statement: "TV Everywhere is open and non-exclusive; cable, satellite or telco video distributors can enter into similar agreements with other programmers."
In a statement, Jeff Bewkes, chairman/chief executive officer of Time Warner, said: "This progressive approach to delivering television content online will enable the continued vibrancy and growth of distribution outlets, their content partners and advertising clients."
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If they used ABC's content model, for example, they could be selling ad content on the web broadcasts and delivering more trackable audience reach than cable does.
The first one of them to abandon cable delivery systems for for a purely internet play, will win.
Meanwhile, the floggings will continue until the public learns to love them.
Keep the internet free!