Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) is making its CNN and HLN news channels available online to Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCS), Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) subscribers, as the company looks to expand its TV Everywhere efforts.
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CNN (pictured) and HLN news channels are available via simulcast starting today. |
The programs will be simulcast, with full ad loads, starting today and can be accessed on CNN's website and on Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad, iPod touch and iPhone. Time Warner said it will add other mobile devices in coming months.
Time Warner earlier this year added 1,400 hours of programming to its web-based HBO service, HBO Go. That programming also is accessible only to authenticated subscribers of select pay-TV operators, like Charter Communications and DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV).
Time Warner and other media players are hoping to push their TV Everywhere initiatives further this year after a fitful start. Disputes between content owners and operators, however, over the breadth of digital rights available have slowed the efforts. Also at issue: How to count online viewers to help set ad rates.
"We're trying to lead by example. We're trying to show that it works," Andy Heller, vice chairman of Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting, where he is helping to coordinate the company's TV Everywhere offerings, told the Wall Street Journal. "If we don't give consumers those options, you run the risk of seeing the potential for cord cutting."
For more:
- see this Wall Street Journal article
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Research: TV Everywhere will be (nearly) everywhere by mid-2011