Just as soon as Time Warner has divested itself from the cable business, Jeff Bewkes, its chief executive, is preparing to stab the cable industry in the back.
That’s what I read in the interview with Mr. Bewkes in Advertising Age Monday talking about a concept the company calls TV Everywhere. Most of the article positions Time Warner, a major programming supplier, in agreement with Comcast and the newly independent Time Warner Cable, over plans to let people watch cable networks on the Internet.
The idea, which I wrote about last month, is that if you pay to have access to programming by way of a cable or satellite service, you will also be able to watch the same programs on a computer connected to the Internet or maybe on a cellphone. Most cable-only networks, like CNN and ESPN, do not offer their programming free on the Web because most of their income comes out of the subscription fees charged by pay TV companies.
One paragraph in the article jumped out at me, however.
For 85 percent of American households, the added access would be, essentially, free. Mr. Bewkes said he anticipates there will be a web-only option for those who don’t have pay-TV service.
That last line has the potential to affect a lot more people than the handful of cable naysayers. Once you can buy CNN and TNT from Time Warner, it won’t be long before you can buy MTV and Comedy Central from Viacom as well as ESPN and Soapnet from Disney.
This is what is called “over the top” television, because it uses a broadband connection rather than the existing cable or satellite systems. It has been long feared in the cable business. The people at Comcast who are planning their Internet TV service have told me they expect that over-the-top video services will be available, but that they want a head start to make sure their subscribers don’t have reason to defect.
The old Time Warner might well have dragged its feet in offering over-the-top access to its networks to help protect its cable system. Now Mr. Bewkes is leading the charge.
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