A partnership between Time Warner Inc and Comcast Corp will test ways for viewers to watch more TV shows over the Web, Reuters reported.

The television industry is struggling to protect its revenue while also satisfying consumers who want to watch their favorite programs on their own time.

The two company’s joint effort would essentially allow the viewing of any TV show at any time over any sort of device, such as a TV set, computer or cell phone.

However, the users must first prove they are cable or satellite customers that pay a monthly subscription fee.

Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes called the plan a free gift for consumers that expands their entertainment choices.

Bewkes said if the approach gets adopted it would clearly be the biggest story in video-on-demand and Internet video.

Time Warner and Comcast will begin a national trial of the service in July to test out whether the system can be successful.

Time Warner's 5,000 customers who were chosen for the trial run will be able to access full episodes of shows from TNT and TBS networks like "The Closer" and "My Boys" on Comcast.net just hours after they air during their regularly scheduled times.

The test confirms that content companies will take steps to protect their dual revenue stream, and in the process will not just respond to, but will shape, the evolution of web video consumption, according to Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett.

Others companies on both the content and distribution sides of the business could adapt similar plans.

Similar initiatives are being discussed at pretty much all the satellite, telephone and other cable companies, Bewkes said.

Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said he expected other content companies to join the approach and offer their own hit shows.

Bewkes said the approach was kind of like iTunes but it's “better because you don't have to pay”.

He calls it the "TV Everywhere" approach, in which the only requirement is that people show they pay for a TV service prior to watching shows online. Comcast calls it "On Demand Online."

Maintaining a paying audience for a TV service is essential for cable operators like Comcast and networks like TBS that collect fees from cable operators that carry their programs.

Many fear the TV industry will suffer the same devastation as the publishing and music worlds by failing to protect their shows from the free, open world of the Web.

However, the TV industry has divided the approach to securing its future.

News Corp's Fox, General Electric's NBC, and Walt Disney's ABC joined together to form Hulu.com, which carries mostly broadcast TV shows but also some content from cable.

But many in the cable business are against this approach, since audiences can watch a TV show on the Internet that previously they could see only if they subscribed to pay-TV.

But both Bewkes and Roberts say they are not reacting belatedly or defensively to the threat that the Internet poses.

Bewkes said they are simply being “offensive”.



source : http://www.redorbit.com