Time Warner and Comcast's online video plan faces hurdles

[Why Syzygy]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-tveverywhere25-2009jun25,0,1463904,print.story

The initiative would require people to prove that they subscribe to a video delivery service -- cable, satellite or telephone -- to watch certain shows online.
By Joe Flint

June 25, 2009

A plan by Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. to ensure that people who watch TV on the Web are already cable-TV subscribers faces several hurdles, including the technical -- a workable encryption system -- and the political -- whether consumers will view it as an attempt to wall off free content.

The initiative unveiled Wednesday, which Time Warner is calling TV Everywhere and Comcast has dubbed OnDemand Online, would require people to prove that they subscribe to a video delivery service -- cable, satellite or telephone -- to watch certain shows online.

Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, will soon begin testing the service with customers.

But a major challenge for Time Warner and Comcast is designing an authentication system that identifies a consumer as a cable-TV subscriber but also is easy to use. Consumers are already overwhelmed with online passwords in their personal and professional lives, and another one could be an impediment to adoption of a new service, experts say.

"The technology has to work for the consumer. It cannot be obtrusive," said Quincy Smith, chief executive of CBS Interactive.
(...)
Both Time Warner and Comcast stress that they do not view their partnership as a way to stifle the shift to viewing content online. They say it is a way to preserve the current economic model of the business while offering consumers more platforms on which to watch their favorite shows.

"It is a very innovative model that the industry has," Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said Wednesday in announcing the partnership. "We are trying to take that basic structure and put it on the Internet, augmenting its appeal and its convenience."

The two companies said they expected others to come aboard in the near future.
(...)

[EvolveOrConvolve]

1. This. Will. Never. Work.

"It is a very innovative model that the industry has," Tim Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes said Wednesday in announcing the partnership.......

Consumers have certain expectations of the internet, and this awful idea violates many of them. This is a ploy for cash, plain and simple.

Hey Mr. Bewkes: IF SOMEONE IS VISITING YOUR SHITTY SITE TO WATCH VIDEOS, IT'S ALMOST 100% GUARANTEED THAT THEY HAVE CABLE, SATELLITE OR TELEPHONE. YOU KNOW HOW I KNOW, DIPSHIT? BECAUSE THEY ARE USING THE INTERNET TO VISIT YOUR SITE AND THE PRIMARY METHODS OF INTERNET CONNECTIVITY ARE CABLE, TELEPHONE DSL, OR TELEPHONE DIAL-UP.

Sorry for the yelling, but Mr. Bewkes is an idiot.

[Why Syzygy]

2. Good point.

Don't know anyone with dial up who watches many videos though.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Dearlord ...

Ya know, some people used to call me stupid for even suggesting this is the direction the cable industry would take, with Time Warner leading the charge.

And here's the root of the problem:

"preserve the current economic model of the business"

Hello? Your economic model is laying on the ground, gasping for air in an environment void of oxygen.

Every type of business that flails along so determinedly trying to avoid changing their economic model in the face of such evidence as a flat-lined monitor of its effectiveness has either died outright or been transformed utterly against its will, usually for the worse.

[charlie]

4. Troof

And wait until some poor sap gets charged extra because he watched a George Raft extravaganza on TNT and exceeded the bandwidth allotment on his plan. TW were the idiots who allowed "silent" overruns in their metered trials. They're not just flailing, they're downright schizophrenic.

For the first time, I've seen UVerse trucks in the neighborhood. I'm watching, waiting, to see if they don't suck as bad as TW.