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Cable Companies Considering Subscription Based Online Video

by Terrence O'Brien on March 30, 2009 at 06:41 PM

Cable Companies Considering Subscription Based Online Video

As of now, there are tons of ways to enjoy online TV for free, or at least incredibly cheaply. YouTube, Joost, TV.com and of course the perennial favorite Hulu all offer full-length TV shows and clips for free. The networks made the move to these sites in hopes of stemming the growing popularity of pirated videos. Cable channels, however, have been less eager to share their property online. Premium cable outlets, like HBO, rely on subscription fees -- instead of advertising -- for revenue, and limiting online access to those who subscribe to an HBO satellite or cable package has proven difficult, if not impossible.

Now, however, subscription TV providers like Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon are looking into offering online video to paying customers only. The cable and satellite providers have been holding talks with Viacom (owner of MTV and Comedy Central), Scripps Networks (HGTV and the Food Network), Discovery and the BBC in an effort to move online video to a subscribers-only model.

Time Warner and HBO have already begun preliminary tests of a system where Time Warner subscribers who pay for HBO are able to watch programming from the channel (such as 'Entourage' and 'Big Love') through a special program and a unique user ID.


A subscription-based, online video service may find some success with premium cable channels, but we can't imagine viewers paying for shows like 'The Daily Show' and 'South Park,' whose entire archive of episodes is online for free already. [From: New York Times]

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Tags: fios, hbo, subscription, time warner, time warner cable, TimeWarner, TimeWarnerCable, verizon fios, VerizonFios

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