Fox Broadcasting this week confirmed that it sent a cease-and-desist letter to Time Warner Cable demanding that it stop streaming its content to the Time Warner iPad app.
The app lets Time Warner customers stream live TV to their Apple tablet over a Time Warner Internet connection, so they can watch cable content in multiple rooms. Content providers like Fox, however, are up in arms because they believe the iPad app constitutes another distribution channel and Time Warner, therefore, should hand over more cash for the rights to stream those TV shows.
Not surprisingly, Time Warner disagrees and has set up a Web site to make its case, at iwantmytwcabletvapp.com.
"Some TV networks want to take the free app away. Why? They're worried about their bottom lines," Time Warner said on its site. "We're standing up for you. You've already paid for these TV programs to be delivered to your home, and we believe you should be able to watch these programs anywhere in your house, on any screen you want."
Viacom and Discovery Communications have also reportedly voiced their concern about the app, as has Scripps.
On its blog, Time Warner argued that it is not the only one moving the viewing experience beyond the TV set.
"The approach is similar to the one that Time Warner and other cable (and content) providers have taken during battles over licensing contracts," the company wrote. "Every year, a cable giant and content provider (like Cablevision and Fox) get into a battle that threatens to remove the content provider's content from the cable company's lineup."
The iPad app currently offers 32 live channels in HD, and Time Warner promised to add more soon. It said there have been more than 300,000 downloadeds from the App Store.
The PR battle with the iwantmytwcabletvapp.com Web site is similar to the public battle cable and content providers have waged over their licensing deals as a whole. Every year, some content provider inevitably threatens to pull their content from a cable provider if they don't get such and such a price. The cable provider in turn balks at the price demands, a stand-off ensues, and - in some cases - channels go dark until a deal is reached. Recently, both cable and content companies have taken to setting up Web sites, Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages to make their cases and urge customers to side with them.
In December, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a rulemaking that could broaden its authority to step in to battles between cable providers and broadcasters and prevent outages.
For more, see PCMag's hands on with the Time Warner iPad app and the slideshow below.