Verizon
announced Thursday that it will be making more popular programming from Time
Warner available online in on-demand fashion, as it continues to promote Time
Warner's "TV Everywhere" initiative that uses authentication
to let viewers watch cable programming they're already paying for on
their PCs or laptops.
Verizon,
which has been offering online shows from TNT and TBS since June, will now
offer shows from Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and truTV. Programming will be available
on "FiOS TV Online" within 24 hours after an episode airs on live
television.
"We
are excited to further the TV Everywhere initiative by making content from
Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and truTV available to FiOS TV customers," said
Michael Quigley, vice president of business development & multi-platform
distribution for Turner Network Sales, in a statement. "We look forward
to partnering with other distributors to reward customers with access to our
popular networks when and where they want."
The
announcement comes a day after Verizon executives demonstrated a number of newFiOS TV applications at the New York home of its CIO, Shaygan Kheradpir. The demonstrations included FlexView, a new service that will let VOD or
electronic sell-through (EST) customers watch a movie they've rented or
purchased on up to five devices, including PC, laptops and smartphones; "My
Cloud," which gives remote streaming access to pictures and audio files
that are stored on a PC or laptop connected to the FiOS TV home network; and a
live streaming application for cable programming on Apple's iPad tablet that
was used to show CNN being delivered through a home Wi-Fi network.
The
iPad application, which features a program guide consisting of a mosaic of
popular channels which subscribers can browse through, is basically using the
iPad as a "software set-top box" which captures CNN as an IP stream
being delivered through Verizon's robust fiber network, explained
Kheradpir. Verizon is currently talking about the streaming service as being
limited to customers' homes, as opposed to "TV Everywhere,"
which gives on-demand access to authenticated subscribers wherever they have an
IP connection.
While
the iPad application could theoretically be extended to devices like connected
TVs and eliminate the need for a hardware set-top, Verizon plans to continue
traditional QAM delivery of cable channels like CNN to traditional set-tops for
the foreseeable future, said Kheradpir. Instead, applications like iPad streaming,
and others that draw on-demand content from Verizon's IP-based "cloud,"
are aimed more at improving the user experience than cutting capital costs.
They
could also give cable operators and programmers new ways to monetize their
content, he added. The streaming application could be used to deliver
customized ads to a subscriber watching CNN on an iPad, which Kheradpir said
was an easier way to deliver targeted advertising than inserting targeted ads
within the broadcast CNN feed. The streaming application could also
theoretically be used to deliver linear cable programming outside the home
through wireless networks. But there are both bandwidth and business
considerations to such a move, including the effect it might have on Verizon's
existing mobile TV service with FLO TV and the wishes of Verizon's
programming partners.
"The
technology has been Mount Everest, and we've
climbed most of it," said Kheradpir. "This has not been easy to do,
and we're not at the peak
of Everest yet. But at
least we now have something to talk about."
