Scrambling to keep from losing momentum with its iPad app, Time Warner Cable found 17 new channels to add to its lineup, replacing 11 it had to jettison after the programmers – Fox, Discovery and Viacom – complained.
The MSO’s TWCableTV app for the iPad lets TWC subscribers stream some of the channels they have access to anyways to their iPads, and only within their homes, through their home Wi-Fi networks.
Some programmers are taking the position that they should be paid extra for that. Lawyers for Fox, Discovery and Viacom sprang into action and compelled TWC to pull those companies’ channels from the TWC iPad app. They are: Animal Planet, BET, CMT, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, FX, MTV, National Geographic, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1.
The new channels were added overnight, TWC said. The new lineup now includes a total of 40 channels, including A&E, AMC, Bravo, Disney, E!, Food Network, Lifetime, MSNBC, Syfy, Style, Sleuth and We. Also added are Time Warner Cable’s local news channels in each market where they are available.
TWC also launched a site called I Want My TWCable TV App clearly aimed at agitating consumer passion against the recalcitrant programmers.
TWC director of digital communications Jeff Simermon, one of TWC’s official bloggers, wrote: “Instead of rowing down the river of history and into the future, these programmers have chosen to sit on the bank and kick rocks.”
In praising the new iPad app partner channels, TWC COO Robert Marcus provided an implied dig at Fox, Discovery and Viacom: “We are proud to be working with the programming partners who understand the importance of meeting our customers’, and their viewers’, desire to watch the content they pay for on any screen in their home.”