Time Warner Draws Controversy with Live-Streaming iPad App

Time Warner Cable recently released a new iPad app that provides subscribers access to live-streaming television content via their iPad (Cablevision is expected to release a similar app shortly). And not surprisingly, the TV networks have expressed concern. Channel owners including Viacom and Scripps see the streaming capability as a contract violation, and reports indicate that cease and desist orders are underway.

To stream programs from Time Warner, customers download the iPad app, log in to their account, and choose from a selection of channels. The current version of the app only works inside the home for customers who receive both TV and Internet from the operator. The problem with this approach is that the networks view iPad streaming as a separate service from cable television, one that may require a different fee.

While Verizon and Comcast are also working on streaming apps for iPads, clearly the business model has yet to be ironed out. And we still don’t know if consumers will be watching TV through an app from their cable company, an individual channel’s app, or through a service such as Netflix.

Related New York Times story: “Dispute Over Time Warner Cable’s Streaming to iPad Bursts into the Open” (3/28/11)

Related Engadget story: “TWCable TV app for iPad now available, but Dish has something to say about being ‘first with live streaming'” (3/15/11)

4 Comments

  1. Even though the Time Warner Cable app is pretty lame to begin with (works only in your house and only if you have TWCable broadband), TV Networks are supposedly coming down on them. Interesting!

  2. Even though the Time Warner Cable app is pretty lame to begin with (works only in your house and only if you have TWCable broadband), TV Networks are supposedly coming down on them. Interesting!

  3. Consumers will start to demand more from the cable companies, and they will expect true TV everywhere. If they don’t get it, they will just go to a service like Hulu Plus or Netflix.

  4. Consumers will start to demand more from the cable companies, and they will expect true TV everywhere. If they don’t get it, they will just go to a service like Hulu Plus or Netflix.

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