Evolution That Makes Sense

We’ve been waiting for this.

I wanted to take a moment to discuss some exciting news that broke today. The WSJ ran a story (subscription required) that discussed the intentions of cable operators like Comcast and Time Warner to offer cable subscription content online to subscribers. Think Sopranos on your Macbook. That excites me as a consumer and as a technologist charged with enabling it.

If this is embraced by operators and programmers it means that subscribers will have greater access to the fantastic content that to-date has not been published online. The main point is that this is additive to the rich universe of online video. It is good for consumers because they get access to more content in more places. It is also good for cable networks because it doesn’t put subscription fees at risk, and gives cable or other distributors the the ability to give their audiences the experience they want and expect. The content belongs online and it’s exciting to see that there’s now a push to do it in a way that works. I also think that this represents a model that could be adopted by telcos, carriers, and satellite providers, which would obviously benefit a broader set of consumers. This is a natural evolution of the subscription video business and opens the door to a lot of innovation in both product enhancements and ways to package content.

You can probably guess that thePlatform is involved in building out the capabilities to enable this kind of service. We have a long history of working with both operators and programmers and have always taken the view that our customers needed more than a simple unauthenticated video with advertising model. We also accept the challenge to make this experience seamless for consumers. With a strong technology foundation to stand on, we’re investing the time and energy to enable this vision. Stay tuned for more .

Ian Blaine
CEO, thePlatform

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Comments

By ian blaine on Feb 21, 2009

This article by Saul Hansell of the NY Times does a great job of explaining why this model makes sense. You can find it here: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/dont-count-out-comcasts-online-vod/

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