Comcast and Time Warner are turning up the heat on TV Everywhere, with Time Warner agreeing to provide Comcast with expanded access to shows and movies from Turner Broadcasting System networks, including TNT, TBS, CNN, HLN, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Authenticated Comcast subscribers will get the content, at no additional cost, shortly after it airs, on Comcast's online play, Xfinity, as well as though its On Demand cable platform. The content will be available on a variety of devices, including across Turner branded iPad, iPhone and Android-based tablet and phone applications with plans for live streaming later this year.
Turner spokeswoman Misty Skedgell told FierceIPTV that "Subject to certain rights restrictions and conditions, Comcast has the right to stream some of our networks. We envision that Comcast will likely begin making CNN available on an authenticated basis in the near future."
Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes has been an evangelist for TV Everywhere since its inception, and has worked closely with Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts to bring it to fruition. He called today's deal a "landmark agreement."
"When we first announced the TV Everywhere initiative with Comcast and Brian Roberts 18 months ago, it was an untested idea facing technical doubts and competitive pressures-but already more than 50 million consumers can experience some form of it from a wide range of content providers and distributors," said Bewkes. "This landmark agreement between Turner and Comcast, along with our separate recent deal between Comcast and HBO, really solidifies our partnership in this effort and really pushes forward the concept of giving consumers more access to quality on-demand content on any device they choose."
Comcast rolled out Xfinity in February last year. It was initially lambasted for having a lack of content. It's continued to add programming since then, announcing in October that it had commitments from 90 content partners and had nearly 150,000 pieces of content available through its Xfinity portal.
The deal with TBS will give customers access to The Closer, Men of a Certain Age, Southland, Conan, Lopez Tonight, The Venture Brothers, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Speeders, Glory Daze, House of Payne, Meet The Browns, and Piers Morgan Tonight," among many others.
The Turner content on Xfinity platforms is expected to accrue to Nielsen C3 ratings across TV and the Internet starting in mid-2011, and eventually to phone and tablet devices.
"This multi-year agreement with Time Warner is a significant next step in our vision to deliver more content to our customers on any device, at anytime and anywhere," said Roberts. "Jeff has been a real leader in increasing the amount of content available to consumers and we are thrilled to be able to deliver hundreds of hours of Turner shows and movies to our customers across multiple devices."
For more:
- see this release
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