Is TV Everywhere the Answer to TV’s Woes?

Time Warner Inc. announced that it has partnered with Comcast Corporation to develop the “TV Everywhere” model that will guide the distribution of its television content online. The agreement between the companies will make it possible for Comcast customers to access programming from Turner Broadcasting's entertainment networks free online and on demand.

In addition, Comcast announced it will begin a national technical trial of its "On Demand Online" service in July, carrying programming from Time Warner's Turner networks TNT and TBS.
According to the TW press release, the companies endorsed a framework that would bring significantly more television content to customers online in a manner that is “consumer-friendly, pro-competitive and non-exclusive.” To ensure rapid adoption and deployment of online television content across the industry, a set of principles for the TV Everywhere model was “designed to be simple and attractive for any programmer and any video distributor to elect to adopt.”

The companies agreed to the following principles:

• Video subscribers can watch programming from their favorite TV networks online for no additional charge.
• Video subscribers can access this content using any broadband connection.
• Programmers should make their best and highest-rated programming available online.
• Both networks and video distributors should provide high-quality, consumer-friendly sites for viewing broadband content with easy authentication.
• A new process should be created to measure ratings for online viewing. The goal should be to extend the current viewer measurement system to include advertiser ratings for TV content viewed on all platforms.
• TV Everywhere is open and non-exclusive; cable, satellite or telco video distributors can enter into similar agreements with other programmers.

The On Demand Online technical trial will involve premium long-form content with approximately 5,000 customers, and the trial period will be dedicated to testing the new authentication technology on a national basis that will enable secured access to the content. Time Warner expects to announce similar trials with other distributors.

Is TW betting on the future, or are they waking up to the present? Comcast President Stephen Burke recently told The New York Times, “The majority of profits for the big entertainment companies is from cable programming,” and with cable penetration reported in May as 61.8% of all TV households, this is not surprising. But as the cable/satellite/OTA model of video delivery is being upended by the vast amount of free content available by Internet, this announcement shows that the content owners are fighting back with their own competitive model. It will not be an easy growth path, however: although the TV Everywhere model promises non-exclusive agreements, it does not say how TW will work with satellite and other cable carriers who wish to carry TW programming.