TV Everywhere: Innovation or control?

[Commentary] TV Everywhere is clearly aimed at lessening the Internet's potential — although not yet realized — cannibalizing impact on pay-TV services. Web sites such as Hulu, which makes its ad-supported content available online for free, are a thorn in pay-TV providers' sides. If cable companies were to counter by giving away their content away free as well, the likelihood of video cord-cutting would increase ten-fold. So, instead, they are extending that content online "free" to paying subscribers. You can't blame them for wanting to protect their investment in programming rights, and it's just as understandable that content providers would want to protect theirs, too. All pay-TV providers run the risk of becoming a dumb pipe — a scenario they are looking to avoid. Still, by requiring authentication to ensure subscribers are paying for cable, they are controlling how their consumers watch content online. They could even potentially convert already free content online into their portal for paid subs only. For consumers, they could end up limiting choice. According to Craig Moffett, senior analyst with Bernstein Research, the announcement underscores important themes in the Web TV debate that it outlined in recent reports as vital to the future of TV. "First, the content companies will take steps to protect their dual revenue stream and in the process will not just respond to, but will shape the evolution of Web video consumption," Moffett said. "And second, the cable MSOs will not be disinterested bystanders in this debate, but instead will themselves be active participants, further shaping the evolution."