TV Networks Cry Foul as Time Warner Cable Offers Channels via iPads at Home

Time Warner Cable Inc. is digging in its heels in a dispute with several big media companies over whether it can beam live TV channels to Apple Inc. iPads, exposing tensions between major TV-industry players as they wrestle with how to adapt to the Internet era.

Melinda Witmer, chief programming officer for Time Warner Cable, said in an interview that her company is "well within our rights" to transmit TV channels to any device in the home, as long as it sends signals through its cables and its "secure network," rather than the "open Internet." For that reason, the app is specifically configured to work only when linked to a subscriber's home Internet connection. Witmer's comments are the latest salvo in a fight that erupted last week when Time Warner Cable, without securing permission, released an iPad app that includes a lineup of 32 live channels that the cable-service provider carries on traditional TV. Those channels include MTV, Discovery Channel and Food Network, among others. Several media executives shot back quickly. At issue are interpretations of provisions within the tightly negotiated -- and lengthy -- agreements between media companies and cable operators. Several TV executives say their contracts specifically delineate rights for "cable television." One executive contended that distributors have rights only to what is specifically granted in their contracts. Another executive described Time Warner Cable's move as a "land grab."