Media Bites May 4 2010

TV Everywhere & Anywhere continues:

In the quest to get your entertainment ( not news, my print friends) where ever and whenever you want it, DISH Network will open up a beta web portal this summer to offer premium content. According to Multichannel News, Comcast is the only distributor to offer the service through Fancast Xfinity Video (http://www.comcast.net/on-demand-online/)-viewers can watch their favorite shows from HBO, Starz, TNT, TBS, A&E, History, CBS and AMC.

Time Warner Cable, Verizon FIOS and DirectTV are all at various launch stages. Additionally, HBO (owned by Time Warner) recently introduced HBOgo and MobiTV (http://www.mobitv.com/) has been in the game for a while now. Yup, I've already downloaded both HBO and MobiTV apps to my IPhone.

However, here's the frustrating part: Lets say I want to catch the latest episode of 'True Blood' on my Macbook. Whoops, can't do that. My cable provider is Time Warner and they haven't rolled out that product yet. OK, no worries. I'll go to HBOgo and catch it there. Blocked there as well as they have a limited number of distributors signed up and their parent company isn't one of them.

I see TONS of opportunity for media business start ups to get every distribution company, networks, programmers, marketers and tech pros on the same page so the consumer can benefit. I'll say it again with gusto: one access point, one fee, multiple devices. Hey, maybe my business partner and I could develop something........