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Time Warner Cable Cuts iPad Live TV Access 50%

Junior Samples writes "According to the article: 'Time Warner Cable March 16 slashed the number of channels available for live streaming on the Apple iPad — less than 24 hours after launching the TV Everywhere app. The No. 2 cable operator reduced to 15 channels from the original 32 offered up as the first-ever live TV broadcasts available for streaming on a portable media device. The concept allows participating media providers to grant unlimited on-demand access across multiple devices to monthly subscribers at no additional charge.'"

22 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What? by yeshuawatso · · Score: 2

    (15-32)/32 = -53% reduction

  2. Re:What? by blair1q · · Score: 2

    It's a signed 5-bit int, but they're only taking the positive values.

  3. Gentleman, gentleman by kyuubiunl · · Score: 2

    Perhaps they meant for very large values of 15.

  4. Bait and Switch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It is called "Bait and Switch".

    1. Re:Bait and Switch by cgenman · · Score: 5, Informative

      According to this article, their authentication servers got overloaded, and they cut down the number of channels to reduce the authentication load while they bought more.

      While I normally rally against evil corporations hiding the truth, somehow "we couldn't convince the higher-ups to buy enough servers until everything went to pot" seems like normal operating launch-day problems.

  5. Pressure From Above? by macs4all · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Methinks that several of the "Channels" first heard about this when it was announced, and SOME of them bitched to TimeWarner that their current agreements didn't cover LIVE streaming of their content.

    Why mujst everybody monetize every single little thing? I understand these "networks" have a duty to their stockholders; but they are not getting the big picture. An iPad in the home of a person that is already a TW subscriber is absoutely the same as adding another TV in that same home. No more. No less.

    1. Re:Pressure From Above? by mikkelm · · Score: 2

      An MSO customer viewing live TV through a stream provided by the MSO could just as easily be network customer viewing live TV through a stream provided by the network.

  6. Re:What? by mirix · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Close enough. Sometimes the pedants here give me a headache.

    --
    Sent from my PDP-11
  7. What? by mikkelm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ".. offered up as the first-ever live TV broadcasts available for streaming on a portable media device."

    Can't we go back to the days when advertising was merely dishonest? What do they achieve by lying about an accomplishment that does not impact the experience of the product?

  8. Re:And Android...no? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Android outsells iOS big-time, but still gets the short end of the stick!

    No, it doesn't. There are more Android phones than iPhones, but the iPhone isn't the only device that runs iOS. In terms of units sold, there are far more devices that run iOS.

  9. Re:What? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    32/15=.5?

    Impressive editing skills here, keep up the good work.

    I've noticed that most corrections like this basically say: "I'm sooOOoo smart that I cannot understand what you're saying." That's not something I'd draw attention to.

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  10. Re:And Android...no? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 3, Informative

    They released an iPad-specific app. Last I checked, the iPad is outselling all other competitors combined about 4:1.

    Another point of consideration with something like this is the rights protection/DRM that Apple has in iOS, which is consistent across the devices. Refer to the problems Netflix has been having in bringing their service to Android because of the inconsistent DRM protection offered across the Android lineup of devices.

    Also, you're conflating iPhones and iOS. Android smartphones are indeed outselling iPhones on a quarterly basis, and have been for the last few quarters. That said, all Android devices are, last I checked, still behind all iOS devices when it comes to sales on a quarterly basis. I saw some numbers from late last year that put iOS ahead by about 30-40M units in terms of installed base, with both the Android and iOS lines on the graph growing at the same rate, essentially meaning that they're keeping pace with each other, but that Apple got the head start. That's not to say that they'll always be ahead, of course, but they are for now.

    As for OS version fragmentation, you're right. It's not nearly the issue that some folks make it out to be. That said, there is an issue for customers who want to update to later versions and can't since their carrier won't permit reasonable updates after just a few months, but that's more of an issue with bad business practices that affect consumers negatively, rather than a problem for app developers.

  11. DRM by brunes69 · · Score: 2

    Because Android does not implement system-level DRM, that's why. IE, because it is open, media companies don't like it.

    This is exactly why Netflix has no Android app, they have said so right on their blog.

    1. Re:DRM by Kryptonian+Jor-El · · Score: 2
      --
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  12. Re:Quickly kill it before it grows too strong! by FliesLikeABrick · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.twcableuntangled.com/2011/03/heavy-demand-crashed-our-ipad-app-last-night-it%E2%80%99s-not-a-good-party-unless-you-run-out-of-beer/

    It was actually because they had capacity issues and have temporarily reduced the number of channels available so as to not knock the whole service offline again.

    (full disclosure: I used to work for TWC)

  13. Re:What? by WCguru42 · · Score: 2

    I can't tell if you're sarcastic or one of those aforementioned irritating pedants...

    The person you're replying to is what's known as a troll, and you should not feed him.

    --
    "Educate the mind but never at the expense of the soul."~Blessed Basil Moreau
  14. Re:And Android...no? by perlchild · · Score: 2

    but that's more of an issue with bad business practices that affect consumers negatively, rather than a problem for app developers.

    I'd say it becomes a platform problem if(or when, you pick) the bad business practices are rampant across most devices, up to the point where app developers need to take it into account when developing software, especially since the more fragmented markets seem to be the loud, highly visible, trend-setting north american markets.

    I thought they already did need to take precautions for software, denials from google notwithstanding

  15. "first-ever" by PhattyMatty · · Score: 2

    "the first-ever live TV broadcasts available for streaming on a portable media device"

    Japan has had this technology for quite some time:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_mobile_phone_culture#Features

  16. It's a server issue by frdmfghtr · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to 9to5Mac, it's a server issue not pissed-off providers (although there may be some of those too)

    http://www.9to5mac.com/56532/time-warner-ipad-app-crashed-servers-halve-offering/

    ‘It’s not a good party unless you run out of beer,’ says TWC in regards to the loss of channels in the iPad app today. They deny outages are being caused by programmers who could have pulled their content even though some are reportedly upset.

    It appears that it actually isn’t the streaming load that is buckling the servers, but the authentication servers according to ablog post by Time Warner Cable’s Jeff Simmermon:

    Our engineering team is working as hard as they can to put a fix in place and get everything up and running as soon as they can. For the time being, the app is running with only 15 channels. We have found that by temporarily reducing the number of available channels, we can ease strain on the authentication process. This will enable us to offer at least some sort of an experience to our customers while we get a fix in place. We’ll add the other 17 channels back in as soon as we can fix the underlying issue, and we’ll be adding more channels in future iterations of the app as well.

    --
    Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
  17. Re:What? by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 2

    Maybe he's using a pentium.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  18. Re:And Android...no? by grapeape · · Score: 2

    Umm when your the consumer fragmentation is a pretty damn big issue. Lets put it this way I was enough for me to decide to ditch my 8 month old Samsung Android phones a few weeks ago and pick up a pair of iPhones, I would have rather stayed on android but at least now I know i'm going to get support for at least a couple phone generations. I was told I should just buy another brand of phone but frankly I just dont trust any of the android phone manufacturers to not just drop support on a whim after rolling out a new model 4 months later. You can blame google, blame the manufacturers, whatever...most consumers who dont give a crap about the politics are just going to drop them and find something else.

  19. Expect refunds from Free App - DOES NOT COMPUTE!! by MBC1977 · · Score: 2

    If you go to the app store you would see the app is Free. And the reduction is temporary in anycase.

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    MBC1977,