CBS spat with Time Warner Cable extends outage to network's official iPad, iPhone apps
A contract dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable has prevented millions of customers not only from viewing CBS channels on their television set, but also through the network's official applications for iPad and iPhone.
The dispute caused Time Warner to block CBS and Showtime networks over the weekend. CBS responded in kind, and blocked Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers from streaming its programming from its website.
But that IP ban also extends to the official iOS applications from CBS. Even though CBS is available free over the air, Time Warner customers who attempt to stream shows through the CBS application for iOS are presented with a video urging them to call their cable provider and side with the network.
"Time Warner Cable has dropped CBS," a 45-second video airing in place of content proclaims. "That means no 'Under the Dome,' no 'Big Brother,' no 'NCIS,' no NFL, or PGA Championship, or US Open Tennis. No 'Big Bang Theory,' no '60 Minutes.' Say no to Time Warner Cable."
The outage also extends to Showtime, which includes the original series "Dexter," "Ray Donovan," and "Homeland." And it includes Bright House Networks, a major regional cable operator that partners with Time Warner.
The current blackout is said to affect about 3 million Time Warner Cable customers in major markets including New York City, Los Angeles, Boston and Dallas. Among the events blocked was Tiger Woods' commanding victory at the Bridgestone Invitational.
In addition, the start of National Football League preseason football is this week, and CBS owns the broadcast rights to the league's American Football Conference teams, such as the New England Patriots and New York Jets.
The dispute caused Time Warner to block CBS and Showtime networks over the weekend. CBS responded in kind, and blocked Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers from streaming its programming from its website.
But that IP ban also extends to the official iOS applications from CBS. Even though CBS is available free over the air, Time Warner customers who attempt to stream shows through the CBS application for iOS are presented with a video urging them to call their cable provider and side with the network.
"Time Warner Cable has dropped CBS," a 45-second video airing in place of content proclaims. "That means no 'Under the Dome,' no 'Big Brother,' no 'NCIS,' no NFL, or PGA Championship, or US Open Tennis. No 'Big Bang Theory,' no '60 Minutes.' Say no to Time Warner Cable."
The outage also extends to Showtime, which includes the original series "Dexter," "Ray Donovan," and "Homeland." And it includes Bright House Networks, a major regional cable operator that partners with Time Warner.
The current blackout is said to affect about 3 million Time Warner Cable customers in major markets including New York City, Los Angeles, Boston and Dallas. Among the events blocked was Tiger Woods' commanding victory at the Bridgestone Invitational.
In addition, the start of National Football League preseason football is this week, and CBS owns the broadcast rights to the league's American Football Conference teams, such as the New England Patriots and New York Jets.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by msuberly
Screw cable and satellite TV. My antenna works better than both.
Completely irrelevant. If you were a TimeWarner customer, CBS would be trying to block your antenna from working too. But your neighbor who gets internet through a phone company DSL is allowed to watch CBS, even if they have TimeWarner television service. CBS is discriminating based upon your ISP, and that should be illegal.
It's mafia-like in this respect. It's like your auto mechanic refusing to service your vehicle because you bought gas from Chevron instead of Citgo. Or your grocery store refusing you entry because you dared to shop at Walmart last week.
PS: I won't do business with TimeWarner either, and I too have a nifty antenna that works. But now I'm going to BOYCOTT CBS because of their action. Good bye, advertisers.
I wonder how more time its going to take for the TV and Movie industry and the Cable industry before they realize they are screwed just like the music guys were back in early 2000's.
Physical media sales are down, video rental stores are almost all closed, lots of blockbusters are not making there cost at Theaters. Some of the renting went to cable on demand and other internet offering, but the size of bittorrent movies and TV shows is no longer an issue for home bandwidth.
Cable is getting competition from DSL over lived TV. People are getting used to stream pre-recorded content from the internet instead of watching live TV.
That market is going straigh to a major crisis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeaEarleGreyHot
That CBS is blocking TimeWarner internet customers from accessing their website seems to flaunt the spirit of Net Neutrality. Not all TW customers actually subscribe to TV programming, some only subscribe to internet. To suggest that an ISP is responsible for some kind of payment to a content provider is absurd, and contrary to the way the internet has been working since inception. Does CBS block access from .edu IP addresses, unless the institution pays a fee? I think not. This is absolutely wrong of CBS. They think they're being clever, but they are acting unethically and possibly illegally, IMO.
supposedly ESPN has been doing just this since the 90's
Quote:
Originally Posted by herbapou
I wonder how more time its going to take for the TV and Movie industry and the Cable industry before they realize they are screwed just like the music guys were back in early 2000's.
Physical media sales are down, video rental stores are almost all closed, lots of blockbusters are not making there cost at Theaters. Some of the renting went to cable on demand and other internet offering, but the size of bittorrent movies and TV shows is no longer an issue for home bandwidth.
Cable is getting competition from DSL over lived TV. People are getting used to stream pre-recorded content from the internet instead of watching live TV.
That market is going straigh to a major crisis.
completely different business models
music was always buy each album, then the greatest hits, etc
cable TV is paying for lots of content to watch only what you want
if you only pay for internet and pay for netflix and the other services you are close to the cost of a cable TV sub in the end
One of these days, CBS is going to get bought out by TW (a la NBC-Comcast, and ABC-Disney).
Quote:
Originally Posted by echosonic
Why would anybody give a shit aout watching CBS? I dont understand this. Do any of the customers care?
They do have the only three shows I watch on network TV: Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest, and Elementary.
But the Fall season hasn't started yet.....
Just another argument for
1) turning cable into a big dumb pipe
2) bypassing both cable and network companies and go straight to the content producers on a per show basis
Netflix, iTunes, Amazon seem to be the likely players here, with Netflix being the rogue outsider.
I'm moving up to F.O. 25mbps next month (and 25mpbs upstream... may have to move to network backups;-) ), at 20mbps, other than some skitchy sites, NetFlix, AppleTV and OTA... I'm doing okay. 25mbps and a better ISP (i hope... it appears I'll be 3 hops closer to the 'core') will be gravy.
I have DirecTV and subscribe to all the CBS packages. My Internet is through TW, as that is the only option I have for high speed Internet in my area. So, I'm paying a premium to CBS for their programming on DirecTV, but can't access any of it online because I am forced to subscribe to TW for my ISP? My ISP has nothing to do with my programming packages, and I did have a choice for that and chose DirecTV, yet I'm still being punished?
The reality is, most people who subscribe to TW cable likely don't stream much if any of their programming over the internet.
I can see CBS' quandary ... as the big networks lose market share, they run the risk of pushing more users onto the Internet permanently with a move like this as people discover it as a viable option. But this is just wrong on so many levels.
And what should the viewers really worry about? Not seeing their favorite CBS sitcom? No, they should be more concerned with the fact that big media continues to marginalize quality. Sure there are some great shows, e.g. Homeland. But how many times have you seen a great show run into the ground because of network marginalization? How many crappy spin-offs is Disney going to fleece from Pixar's great library? So far they have three, but you can bet there are more to come. Their not interested in making good content. Their not interested in making the world a better place. Their not interested in what you think. They're only interested in ad revenue and will use any method to secure it. Just like a manic heroin addict.
Luckily, the internet cannot be cornered so easily. More and more content will make it's way to consumers exclusively via the internet, while cable companies will become primarily internet providers. Bye, bye cable. Bye, bye old-fashioned telephone. I only hope independent content creators and producers will replace big media, and relegate big media to ad pimp status. It's easier than ever to make great content with cheap computers, and cheap video equipment. Jay Z and Beyonce did it, so what's stopping others from doing the same?
What do consumers want? They want what they want, when they want it. Why should we allow big media interfere with that, just so they can get their "20%" heroin fix? Why shouldn't we demand more from cable and networks? Why should they get to double-dip while we bear the burden?
Cable & Networks are two petulant children that both deserver to be booted from the game. Let's help them out.
Your comment is irrelevant to his comment. He was simply expressing a sentiment.
Cord Cutting:
AT&T
Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age by Susan Crawford. She brings up things like natural monopoly, common carrier, public interest... stuff kind of left out of the discussion on... 'cable'!.
http://www.amazon.com/Captive-Audience-Telecom-Industry-Monopoly/dp/0300153139/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Author interview about the book on Cspan book tv
http://www.booktv.org/Program/14736/After+Words+Susan+Crawford+Captive+Audience+The+Telecom+Industry+and+Monopoly+Power+in+the+New+Gilded+Age+hosted+by+Andrew+Blum+Wired+Magazine.aspx
.