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Time Warner goes to court over iPad streaming app

by Mike Schramm Apr 7th 2011 at 5:30PM

And they're off! I thought it was weird that Time Warner was pushing so hard to get streaming cable channels on its new iPad app, but apparently it's ready to back up that stance. The company has just dropped a request for a declaratory judgement on a US District Court, asking the courts to rule on whether it can or can't show cable subscription channels on the iPad. There's more information on the official blog: Time Warner's current interpretation is that the iPad is just like any other TV screen in the house, and since you can already stream Time Warner's content to multiple TVs, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to stream it off to your iPad if you want as well. Sounds reasonable to us, but Time Warner has officially asked the courts for agreement.

As Time Warner says itself, this request wouldn't have been filed if it had any inclination it was wrong. Essentially, it's for the providers who have been fighting to keep their content off of TW's app -- if Time Warner gets the ruling it wants, those companies won't have a proverbial leg to stand on. Time Warner says that a resolution should be out soon, and when it is, we'll likely see Time Warner's customers get those channels back that were lost before.



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And they're off! I thought it was weird that Time Warner was pushing so hard to get streaming cable channels on its new iPad app, but...
 

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gmerin

Viacom and TWC filed motions in court today, and Viacom's makes me particularly anxious: either Viacom has some vastly ulterior motivation behind their filing, or they have to be the most technically illiterate media company still in business (never ascribe to intelligence what is more simply explained as stupidity and dumb luck..).

they seem to be claiming that TWC's permitting viewing of programming totally limited to devices directly connected to a TWC cable connection will somehow impact Viacom's ability to sell a public streaming service of their products in the future, without going into any details as to how they expect to stream their future service to TWC's tablet customers in their homes, without using TWC's internet connections.

April 08 2011 at 6:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mkvirt

While I enjoy my opportunities to slam TW, in this instance I agree with them 100% I legitimately paid for the ability to watch those channels as legally provided bt TW in my home, therefore it is absolutely no business of the individual networks how I choose to view them in my home, until such time as the TOS is formally and legally changed, otherwise they are in breach of contract...and I will be first in line for the class action suit of every TWC NYC customer (all 8 million of us) vs Fox.

April 07 2011 at 9:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bill Mac

And the winner is..... the lawyers.


Again.

April 07 2011 at 6:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
madgoat

I'm a little concerned and I'll tell you why. Here in Canada the cable companies are in a battle with th CRTC, the Canadian FCC with the argument that services that stream tv and movies would be treated the same as a broadcaster, thus implying extra fees and being forced to stream a lot of Canadian crap.

If this passes in the states, our cable co's could try to use this to leverage the playing field by saying the Americans deem streaming apps to be equal to tv broadcasting.

So we'd get screwed.

April 07 2011 at 6:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tdowling

The consumer rooting for Time Warner? This might cause a few heads to explode.

April 07 2011 at 6:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jpa

I'm hoping TW wins this one. I really enjoyed watching a couple on the channels that where pulled. They have a good app and the picture was great.

April 07 2011 at 5:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
alan

How does this square with Apple's demand that it take a 30% cut of all subscriptions on the iOS? Do "subscriber channels" count as subscriptions?

April 07 2011 at 5:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to alan's comment
auditdirox

No, apple said a while ago that the 30 percent did not apply to things like Netflix and pandora, so this should fall in the same category. ( heres a link http://www.emailsfromstevejobs.com/2011/02/22/steve-says-new-subscription-terms-only-apply-to-publishing-apps/ )

April 07 2011 at 7:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
alan

Thx, auditrox, somehow i missed that news. It'll be interesting to watch as the line between "publishing" and "software as a service" grows thinner and thinner ...

April 07 2011 at 7:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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