New York —Andy Heller,
vice chairman of Turner Broadcasting
System, defended the
progress thus far of “TV Everywhere”
— his company’s effort
to make programming available
to authenticated subscribers
online — against criticism
that it is taking too long.
“It’s only been two years; I
know it feels like longer,” he said
during a Q&A last week with
Multichannel News editor in
chief Mark Robichaux at the B&C/MCN “Video Everywhere: Who’s
Cracking the Code?” event. “I spend a lot of time defending how
long this has taken; making this a robust product for the consumer.”
Turner is taking the time to develop TV Everywhere with an
advertising revenue stream, Heller said, so as not to cannibalize
viable existing cable businesses. And while Internet viewing
offers very detailed metrics on how many people are watching
specific content, the data does not allow for demographic breakdowns
yet.
“The big trick is to marry the data in a way the advertisers will pay
for it,” Heller said. “We want to get to place where we are legitimately
indifferent to where the consumer watches the content.”
Turner is making strides toward that end, he said. By the end of
the second quarter, it expects to have agreements for authenticated
distribution in 70 million to 75 million cable households, giving
subscribers the ability to get Turner programming online, through
its website or a distributor’s.
Andrea Morabito is staff writer at Broadcasting & Cable.
