Time Warner Cable, Viacom resolve spat over streaming TV iPad app
Time Warner Cable and Viacom have agreed to set aside a legal dispute over an iPad app that streams television content within customers' homes.
The two companies released a joint statement on Wednesday (via TechCrunch) announcing that Viacom content would be coming back to the TWC TV app:
Viacom accused TWC of trying to "unilaterally change the terms" of their contract, while TWC argued that the app simply turned the iPad into another TV screen in the home.
The two companies released a joint statement on Wednesday (via TechCrunch) announcing that Viacom content would be coming back to the TWC TV app:
TWC pulled several channels, including MTV and FX, from its iPad app in late March after complaints from the major media companies. Viacom took the most umbrage over the app and filed a lawsuit against Time Warner, which quickly filed a countersuit.Viacom and Time Warner Cable have agreed to resolve their pending litigations. All of Viacom?s programming will now be available to Time Warner Cable subscribers for in-home viewing via internet protocol-enabled devices such as iPads and Time Warner Cable will continue to carry Viacom?s Country Music Television (CMT) programming. In reaching the settlement agreement, Time Warner Cable and Viacom were also able to resolve other unrelated business matters to their mutual satisfaction. Neither side is conceding its original legal position or will have further comment.
Viacom accused TWC of trying to "unilaterally change the terms" of their contract, while TWC argued that the app simply turned the iPad into another TV screen in the home.
Comments
That's a big problem for VZ in NYC, and not just in Manhattan. There are plenty of building complexes with contracts with Time Warner/Cablevision that keeps FiOS out. I'm not sure if a lawsuit will help.
These media giants are complete and total idiots. For all of their power, influence and cash, they didn't see iTunes coming. They just saw Napster and people stealing music. So what did they do? They tried to shut down internet media pirating without providing a legal alternative. You can't easily turn off demand, and why would you want to? People got a taste of digital music and wanted more. So once Napster was gone, the pirates moved to Limewire and Kazaa. The media companies really should have started their own digital storefronts right then and there, but they were stupid, greedy and afraid of progress and now Apple sells all of their media for them.
Fast forward to 2012 and it's happening again with TV. The networks won't serve up their content the way consumers want, and so solutions are cropping up where they least expected it. If I recall, Showtime and HBO didn't produce much original content in their earliest days, but now here we are in the 21st century and some of the best original shows on TV come from the pay stations - Dexter, Weeds, The Sopranos, etc. Well guess what, Netflix and Hulu are starting to offer their own original programming, and if the media giants continue to hold back their content from these modern distribution points and insist we only watch their shows on a proper television, then Netflix an Hulu will begin to provide even more original content and perhaps be joined by Crackle, Vudu and Youtube until eventually, the networks become irrelevant and fade away. Sounds like a long shot now, but who would have ever thought the day would come where the majority of music sold in this country would come from Apple Computer?
I can see this from both sides. TWC could have asked the nets if this was cool, especially since it's not access that is likely written in the contracts. Those things tend to be rather specific. And even if it wasn't, let them know what's about to happen before you do it. its just respectful.
At the same time, TWC is being really strict with this app. I'm on a grandfathered 'broadcast only' plan from when they bought out Comcast's contracts here in LA and they won't let me use the app in my own home so I can stay in bed when I'm sick and watch the 7 channels I get with said plan. Why? Because it's not a real TWC plan. You can only use the app in your own home and it is apparently a total pill to set it up if you aren't on TWC internet (you have to call them, tell them your home IP address etc). It really is just like buying another TV and not like sharing your cable with your cousin from the sticks. So Viacom isn't being jerked out of some cut of new subscriber fees etc so what's the fuss
Makes it even more amusing that the head of TWC doesn't know what Airplay is.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/14/time-warner-apple-tv-airplay/
Yes, dinosaurs still roam the earth..
Cable TV is going to need more government regulation because as they lose business to the Internet they will likely try to interrupt your Internet service just enough to make streaming problematic. Since they provide both TV and Internet service they can completely control your content delivery. They may try to restrict bandwidth or only permit certain packet protocols and fiddle with your modem to disrupt the Internet movies from playing smoothly.
You can understand their problem though. If they pay millions for the TV content, they certainly don't want to let you buy it somewhere else and then have to use their bandwidth to deliver it to you. They want you to use the Internet bandwidth for reading web pages and getting email and leave the movies to be delivered via their TV service.
I think eventually they will be forced to separate the two services since there is an obvious conflict of interest.
I had government regulations that get added for no good reason but in this case it's time to make a law that says simply. If you deliver content via the Internet you can not discriminate between devices. It doesn't matter if it a computer, game console, tablet or mobile phone once you allow content to the Internet it all devices must be allowed to access it. Failure will result in a $100,000 fine for each device so blocked per day it's blocked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timon
If you deliver content via the Internet you can not discriminate between devices. It doesn't matter if it a computer, game console, tablet or mobile phone once you allow content to the Internet it all devices must be allowed to access it. Failure will result in a $100,000 fine for each device so blocked per day it's blocked.
That's actually an acceptable amount of punishment, but it's completely impossible to enforce.