- Facebook's Biggest-Ever Holiday Shopping Season
- Facebook's New Dual Class Structure - Slow Steps to an IPO
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- Twilight, Inc., A Worldwide Craze
- Oprah to Leave Syndication in 2011
- Sony's E-Reader Shortage and the Digital Book Battle
- Salesforce.com Brings Facebook and Twitter's Social Capabilities to Businesses
- Sumner Redstone's Companies Face Off Yet Again
- Can YouTube Revolutionize Citizen Journalism?
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
More Videos
- Facebook's Biggest-Ever Holiday Shopping Season
- Facebook's New Dual Class Structure - Slow Steps to an IPO
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- Twilight, Inc., A Worldwide Craze
- Oprah to Leave Syndication in 2011
- Sony's E-Reader Shortage and the Digital Book Battle
- Salesforce.com Brings Facebook and Twitter's Social Capabilities to Businesses
- Sumner Redstone's Companies Face Off Yet Again
- Can YouTube Revolutionize Citizen Journalism?
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
RSS FEED
MOST SHARED
- The Executive Job Search
- Chinese Overcapacity is Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- Salvation Army's Kettles Now Credit Card-Ready
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Topless Business Is Taking Off
- Dubai Debt Delay Rattles Stock, Bond Markets
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Oil Friday
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- Share Trading on London Stock Exchange Frozen
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- China Overcapacity Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- Investing in Good Karma – and Making a Profit
- Black Friday to Avoid Red Ink; Greenback Gets the Blues
- Wal-Mart Price Pressure Hurts China Workers: Report
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
- Steepest Black Friday Discounts, Revealed
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
Media Money
Text Size 
Time Warner [TWC
Loading...
()
], one of the biggest creators of cable content, and Comcast [CMCSA
Loading...
()
], the nation's largest cable broadcaster, have teamed up to help the industry compete in an Internet-dominated world.
They're working on a model TWX's [TWX
Loading...
()
] CEO Jeff Bewkes has dubbed "TV Everywhere." Comcast will roll out a national test of "On Demand Online" in July, giving 5,000 subscribers access to programming from Turner's TNT and TBS. The idea is to give cable subscribers access to cable TV content online, through a secured website. It would be an added value for subscribers, and it's intended to ensure that the content isn't available elsewhere.
The cable business faces a major threat from the Internet as people watch more content online, for free. This challenges both cable operators like Comcast and Time Warner Cable [TWC
Loading...
()
] and cable programmers like Time Warner and Viacom [VIA
Loading...
()
]: revenue from cable subscriptions has remained incredibly robust, despite the recession, and cable advertising is one of the strongest ad sectors. Cable programmers spend about $22 billion on programming and cable is still the most important of the three services cable operators offer. So it's definitely an industry worth defending.
The industry has been wary of any meetings that could be perceived as collusion -- the last thing these companies need is an anti-trust investigation. But at the same time the whole industry will have to participate to really make this a new business model. So Time Warner and Comcast are using this partnership as an opportunity to lay out the framework, emphasizing that "it would bring significantly more television content to customers online in a manner that is consumer-friendly, pro-competitive and non-exclusive."
Time Warner says that other content creators are expected to get on board to share their shows through Comcast. And other cable broadcasters like Time Warner Cable are expected to announce their own tests soon. Meanwhile everyone will be watching to see whether "On Demand Online" works. Will people watch? And will they watch the ads? And will the technology be secure?
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes