Viacom and Time Warner Cable took their battle over the cable company's iPad app to the courts this week. Time Warner said Thursday that it filed a request for declaratory judgment that would rule that Time Warner is within its right to stream Viacom content to its iPad app; Viacom responded with a lawsuit of its own.
"We have steadfastly maintained that we have the rights to allow our customers to view this programming in their homes, over our cable systems, without artificial limits on the screens they can use to do so, and we are asking the court to confirm our view," Marc Lawrence-Apfelbaum, Time Warner's general counsel, said in a statement.
Time Warner has removed Viacom's content from its iPad app, but still insists that it has the right to distribute the shows via the tablet.
"Time Warner Cable removed our programming from this service only when they were threatened with a lawsuit and, now, it is asking the Court to declare their brazen acts lawful. Regrettably, all of this has compelled us to file a suit of our own – as Time Warner Cable refuses to even discuss the business issues," Viacom said in a statement.
Viacom is suing Time Warner Cable for breach of contract as well as copyright and trademark infringement, among other things.
According to the suit, Time Warner informed Viacom on March 8 of its intention to release an iPad app at the end of the month. On March 14, however, Time Warner told Viacom that it had accelerated the roll out and would launch the app on March 15, despite Viacom's objections.
The app did indeed go live on March 15. It 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. Time Warner, however, says that the video streams do not go out over the public Internet but stay within its networks, and is therefore covered under its licensing agreement with Viacom.
Discovery Communications and News Corp.'s Fox Networks also objected to having their content carried via the Time Warner iPad app. Time Warner eventually pulled the companies' shows from its app, but insisted it was still within its rights to distribute their shows, and filed its request for declaratory judgment. When asked why that did not also include Discovery and Fox, a Time Warner spokesman said the company was "not commenting beyond the suit."
In its suit, Viacom argued that the licensing deal between Time Warner Cable and Viacom does not cover distribution via broadband. More specifically, the deal only covers service regulated under Title VI of Communications Act, which does not include iPad apps. Furthermore, programming on the iPad app fails to carry broadcast signals, provide parental control/blocking capabilities, or provide emergency alerts, Viacom argued.
Not only will Viacom content on the Time Warner iPad app cause Viacom financial harm, it "also will interfere with Viacom's opportunities to license content to third-party broadband providers and to successfully distribute programming on its own broadband delivery sites," Viacom said in the suit.
Viacom also can't track viewership on the iPad app, it said.
Time Warner "blatantly grabbed the rights that their competitors have negotiated in good faith to obtain," Viacom said in a statement. "With $5.2 billion in cash from operations last year, Time Warner Cable can certainly afford to provide our programming through this new broadband service without passing along any additional costs to its customers."
Viacom wants an injunction and damages, including at least $2 million per counterfeit mark used in Time Warner marketing materials that advertisd the iPad app.
Time Warner Cable insists the app does not travel over the Internet, and will likely battle Viacom on the broadband network point.
Legal battles aside, Time Warner Cable is chugging along with its iPad app. It currently features access to 43 channels, and Lawrence-Apfelbaum said the app has been downloaded 360,000 times.
"It is clear that our customers welcome the convenience and flexibility our new app provides," he said.
Rival Cablevision, meanwhile, introduced a similar iPad app over the weekend; Viacom has reportedly complained to the provider about that as well.
For more, see PCMag's hands on with the Time Warner iPad app and the slideshow below.