To get programs, IPTV ventures buy cable systems
June 20th, 2006Two planned broadband TV services have each devised unusual strategies to acquire programming, which involve the purchase of two small cable TV systems. Titan Global Entertainment plans to launch a nationwide IPTV service, and eWAN 1 Inc. plans to stream live TV to its own handheld player. The path ahead is not without obstacles, according to Multichannel News:
These would-be Internet TV operators may face a buzzsaw of legal issues in moving content out-of-market, beyond existing geographic boundaries.
Existing contracts held by the cable acquisitions could open the door to negotiations for IPTV retransmission or, apparently, give the new owners alternate-platform rights contained therein. The latter scenario is called into question, though, by comments from a Turner Broadcasting spokesperson and a media lawyer, both quoted in Karen Brown’s article.
Turner is part of Time Warner, a corporate umbrella that contains several of the most popular cable networks as well as the nation’s second largest cable operator. Big players in the subscription-TV ecosystem may naturally be expected to marshal their forces against audience erosion from upstart internet-TV services. While AT&T and Verizon have the mass and the means to get programming deals, much smaller competitors like eWAN and Titan will need to be both resourceful and creative. If HBO and CNN are off limits, perhaps rather than trying to duplicate cable and satellite TV offerings they can instead focus on deals with independent producers.
Without net neutrality protections, though, small TV-over-IP ventures may be stopped in their tracks. Should the corporations that control the pipes—already having the advantages of size and vertical integration—be free to shunt everyone else’s video traffic off to the internet’s slow lane? This is why we need real, non-discriminatory net neutrality measures that go beyond what is in the latest draft of Sen. Stevens’ telecom bill.
• Link: Multichannel News