Vevo, the music industry’s attempt to create a Hulu-like site for its music videos, will formally launch Dec. 8. The site, which is co-owned by Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Sony’s music label and Abu Dhabi Media, will host a New York kick-off event that day.
There is no shortage of places to watch TV shows free on the Web. There’s a glut of them, really. But here comes another: AT&T Entertainment. How is it different than Hulu, TV.com, Sling.com, Fancast, etc.? It’s not.
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts will announce this morning that their two companies are linking up for a trial of an “authentication” effort. That means a handful of cable subscribers will get online access to Time Warner TV shows that have been previously kept off the Web. The idea is to protect cable subscription revenues by giving pay TV subscribers–but only subscribers–Web access to all the shows they get on TV. It’s a simple idea, but making it a reality will be very, very complicated.
In today’s deal-parched climate, “$50 million today is like $300 million two years ago.” Here’s someone who can take advantage of the new math: Sam Schwartz, who oversees strategy and M&A for Comcast’s digital group. Schwartz has already guided the cable giant through a shopping spree during the past few years, and while he’s too cautious to say it with force, he’s clearly interested in bulking up some more. And unlike some of his peers, he has the green light to do so: “We’re ready for pitches” he says.
Both Comcast and Timer Warner Cable want to give their subscribers Web access to more shows than they can currently get–at least legally. But the two companies have competing plans, based on different technologies and philosophies.
The Viacom-Time Warner Cable fight is just like every other fight we’ve seen between the cable guys and the content guys. The new twist here is broadband video sites like Hulu, which give the content guys a little bit more leverage and irritate the heck out of the cable guys.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
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