I am one of the increasing number of
people watching more TV without using a TV set but it seems like some of the
major players in the TV business don’t want to make it easy for me. A good example of a company that seems to
have adopted a strategy of the status quo is Time Warner Cable. If you believe the glitzy commercials highlighting
the Time Warner Cable App, you would be convinced that they were supportive of
multi- device access to programs. A look
under the hood of this app indicates otherwise.
I have the Time Warner App installed on my
iPad and iPhone. When I first got it I
had visions of really being able to watch what I wanted, when I wanted, and
where I wanted. After all, that is
essentially what the TV spot promises.
It is true that the app allows many of the
cable channels to be viewed on my iPad but not all of the channels I pay for
and for sure not at the time or place I want to view them. None of the local broadcast channels are
available. So no local news and
weather. These traditional channels can
only be viewed over the air or on a cable connected TV set. As I write this I am waiting to watch the
Seahawks game. Since it is being carried
on WXIX, I am out of luck using my iPad or iPhone. Same for the Colts vs Patriots later
today. That game is on CBS, Channel 12
which is also not available.
One would think that since I am already
paying Time Warner almost $5 per month to get all of the ESPN channels they
would be available on my iPad so I could enjoy a game or two while sitting on
my deck rather than being tied to the TV set in the living room. But that is not the case.
Perhaps the most frustrating feature of
the Time Warner Cable App is that it requires me to be at home to view most of
the channels that I pay for. Leave the
coverage of my home Wi-Fi router, and the number of channels is reduced almost
exponentially. I am left with Aljazeera America, BBC and few third-tier
cable channels. There is left little I want to watch.
Why does Time Warner Cable and other
legacy TV companies drag their feet providing true on demand choice to their
paying customers? No big revelation
here. The money they make providing
traditional services, while diminishing, is still very attractive. There is no motivation to embrace new
services.
The picture is slowly changing with some
major national media companies by-passing cable and satellite services altogether
and providing programming directly to the end user. For example CBS has a subscription service
that gives viewer direct access to most of their programming via the internet/
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