Going Mobile: Cable Television Technologies Heat Up

Last week, Time Warner Cable launched an iPad app that allows customers to stream its content live on the tablet device in an effort to widen the scope of television onto the growing digital scale. But for the company whose newest commercial features a woman taking a bath while watching the $500 toy, this restructuring could end up doing more harm than good.

Miranda Witmer, the cable provider's Chief Programming Officer, calls the move not only seminal in efforts to modernize cable television to the growing at-your-fingertips crowd, but also crucial in corporate attempts to ensure the victory over "secure networks" over the "open Internet" (To see TWC's press release regarding the new app, click here).

Of course, in theory, Time Warner's app, which claims to give its 15 million viewers access to over 30 live-streaming networks free of charge, seems like an ingenious idea, sealing the deal on years and years of hard work to allow

access to, quite literally, worlds of broadcasting (click here for PC Magazine's YouTube demo of the app). Especially since over a half-century ago, in the days of what we can now only refer to as broadcast technology's caveman times, most homes solely consisted of one television set. Typically, it was just a giant box of wood with speakers to its side and a tiny, colorless screen in its middle. No remotes, just sons and daughters being assigned "Button-Pressing Duty."And cable access? Keeping track of all the channels back then was often not unlike counting the fingers on your hands.

With all of this in mind, being able to say that we live in a world of immediate access, where everything is a drag and a click of the fingertips, should be quite a simple thing to do. And most people do exactly that, but without a knowledge of the fine print.

The app is only functional when used within the confines of a customer’s home, thereby rendering the idea of a portable cable-streaming device useless. Having the silver screen almost always within feet should be enough for most people. Unless, of course, you decide to listen to Time Warner by hopping into the bathtub and spending the night watching TV with your rubber ducky and your iPad at hand.

Secondly, cable programs viewed through the app are not counted in the Nielsen ratings. As a result, the decisions of the consumers to expose themselves to this aspect of the media are being undermined for solely technical reasons. The essence of this long-established and comprehensive system is to take every viewer’s actions and preferences into account. Without this ability, the main idea behind television as a means by which to embody the masses becomes useless.

But perhaps the most controversial aspect of fusion of media dynamics is the fact that the networks themselves are not being compensated for their streams on the new app, also for merely technical reasons.

Following legal threats from News Corporation, Discovery Communications, and Viacom, three of the largest cable network operators in the country, Time Warner Cable has agreed to yank their live programming from the new popular app.

"We believe we have every right to carry the Fox Cable Networks, Viacom, and Discovery programming on the iPad app," the cable service provider wrote in a statement. "But, for the time being, we have decided to focus our iPad efforts on those enlightened programmers who understand the benefit and importance of allowing our subscribers--and their viewers--to watch their programming on any screen in their homes."

What is at stake here is not the fear of media overload, as it is specifically the consumer's responsibility to gain an appreciation for variety and diversity of exposure or risk irrelevance, but rather the role of corporations in establishing honesty and consistency with the general public. In supporting a mobile application that does little to honor the judgments of content producers and viewers alike, this media-centric society is failing to recognize one of the core principles of communication--choice. Getting such a point across is not easy these days, as many often tend to get lost in the gloss and buzz of technology's growing potential. And while knowledge of what computers and machines can do is of great importance to our future as a society, reminding ourselves of the media's essence is always something to squeak the old rubber ducky about.

TWCableTV App Website: http://iwantmytwcabletvapp.com/