A report by Nat Worden of the Wall Street Journal confirmed this morning that Time Warner Cable Inc. and ESPN are preparing to offer one of their premier presentations, “Monday Night Football,” online behind a paywall to current TV subscribers. This is big news for any sports fan tired of squinting at streaming dots as they dance around their computer screen–which has been the standard online broadcast or “Gamecast” for football games.
Sure, we’ve had Slingbox–a handy third-party gadget that sends whatever is playing on your home TV to your computer screen–for a while now. This, though, is something quite different. Time Warner and ESPN are blazing an entirely new trail for cable channels. For instance, will the content across the entire network be available, or just what’s on the docket in the viewer’s area? Will fans of teams across the country soon be able to see their favorite squad on their computer screen rather than pay copious amounts of cash for DIRECTV’s Sunday Ticket?
One can only guess that the service will eventually evolve to offer more than just “Monday Night Football.”
Worden writes:
The two companies say they will make ESPN’s flagship channel available online for TV subscribers of Time Warner Cable. Those who can confirm their TV subscription through an online registration process can watch live programming on the Web just as it appears on TV for no additional charge—a model known as “TV Everywhere.”
And “TV Everywhere” is an interesting platform to mull over. Will the TV advertising market remain as stable, or will it falter? Though a different medium, the conversion from print to web sunk the revenue streams of traditional media outlets. Television advertisements seem so much more tolerable when lounging on the couch; advertisements on the computer only prompt me to find a new website to ravage through.
The Internet has given us this bizarre sense of entitlement to an uninterrupted, unique viewing experience. I can only imagine users will be less likely and less responsive to online advertisement—unless of course it’s those Old Spice commercials we all love so much.
Something else to keep a watchful eye on is whether this will simplify the recording process for those pesky online buccaneers. Sports outlets have very strict reproduction rules, and bringing broadcasts online may encourage reproduction and distribution via the web. The amount of similar online content can only continue to grow, because, said Sean Bratches, executive vice president of sales at ESPN, they anticipate doing this with a number of other affiliates.
So, what’s the magic password behind this newfangled Times Warner paywall?
Google search: Monday Night Football torrents.
