Time Warner Cable now has TV Everywhere apps for Fox News and Fox Business News. This announcement got me wondering if we will see a new trend where TV Everywhere becomes the first line of defense for content producers against the oncoming tide of a la carte TV.
HBO Go is tremendous but the over the top service is only available to people who are already subscribing to HBO through their cable company. One hand washes the other in this arrangement. If you think about it - HBO is also a defacto package of channels. Nobody gets just one HBO channel. Other content providers who are not premium channels may see this and wonder if a similar arrangement like this can be used to their advantage.
I am not sure about the details of the Time Warner Cable arrangement with Fox News and Fox Business News regarding their apps but I have to wonder if the language of the agreement states that the apps are only available to people who subscribe to both channels? That may not be a big deal now when Time Warner and other cable companies package the channels together but it would be good protection and a very valid selling selling point if a la carte ever came to be. Sure with a la carte TV you would be free to pick either Fox News or Fox Business News or neither but what if you lost access to the apps for both channels if you didn't also get both linear channels?
Just something that occurred to me.
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