Networks Continue To Stake Out Broadband Turf Away From Home

Updated: You might think cable and broadcast nets would keep their broadband services close to home as a draw and marketing tool. Using that theory, the free video from Turner Broadcasting’s CNN would be available only through CNN.com and other Turner/Time Warner sites like AOL.com. But in today’s universe, sticking close to home is the last thing some networks have in mind. Sure, they want to maintain some exclusivity for their own sites and services but — just as they want to be on both cable and satellite — CNN, ABC News and others are looking for web ubiquity and the companion licensing fees or other compensation like rev sharing. They want to be platform agnostic, available anywhere and everywhere as long as there’s a business model.
Along these lines, the NY Times has a piece for Monday on the increasing amount of TV content and other video making its way online. Yahoo Media Group’s Lloyd Braun warns: “If you try to do television on a PC you will fail, because television does television very well.”
That hasn’t stopped Yahoo from making deals for content from broadcast and cable nets — Yahoo announced deals with CNN and ABC News late Sunday. ABC News will provide video from its news shows and during major news events, while I hear CNN will provide all of the video it produces for CNN.com, everything but the live streams that will be offered for a premium on its yet-to-launch Pipeline broadband service.
If you’re a regular paidContent.org reader you already know there’s lots of experimentation going on in this area — long-form; linear/non-linear; pre-broadcast premieres of new network shows; premium content by the event or the month; etc. As long as advertisers or subs are willing to pay, nets and sites are willing to play.

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