Time Warner, Viacom Take iPad App Feud To NY Court

NEW YORK -- Time Warner Cable Inc. and Viacom Inc. took their dispute over what content can be put on the cable company's iPad app to federal court on Thursday, asking a judge to decide the issue.

The companies filed lawsuits against each other after Time Warner agreed to drop a dozen cable channels from the popular tablet computer sold by Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Inc.

News Corp.'s Fox Cable Networks, Viacom and Discovery Communications Inc. had asked Time Warner to pull their programming from its iPad app, which was launched last month. They said putting the programs on it was violating their programming contracts.

The media companies say Time Warner should pay more money to distribute on devices other than television sets. Time Warner says existing contracts already provide it with the rights.

Viacom said in its lawsuit that it cannot let Time Warner "unilaterally change the terms of its contractual relationship." It acknowledged that the cable company had taken the cable channels off the tablet computer by April, but it said a court order would be necessary to keep the company from putting the channels back on. It also asked for $2 million for each violation of the contract between the companies, along with unspecified additional damages.

Time Warner said in a release that the court should rule that it is permitted to provide the programming over its cable systems for viewing on devices of its customers' choosing, including iPads.

"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," Times Warner Cable executive vice president and general counsel Marc Lawrence-Apfelbaum said in a statement.

Comments

[thefreetradejoke]

02:29 PM on 04/11/2011

Holy crap. I'm on Time Warner's side! I fear I really am in bizarro-world.

[JavaSavant]

07:02 PM on 04/11/2011

I KNOW! I'm all goose-pimply!

[lachihuahua]

09:04 AM on 04/11/2011

It seems to me the issue is Time Warner may have beat some content providers to the punch. You can only get the TW content on the iPad if you are already a TW subscriber and even then...you can only get it in your home.

These companies seem to be beefing over who thought of it first and made the content available through non-traditional means. Watching TV on an iPad seems like a no brainer. But it will be truly interesting to see how the courts decide. (nn)

[thefreetradejoke]

02:41 PM on 04/11/2011

So TWC has a contract to distribute the content to people's homes, they come up with a new way to do that within the wireless realm of said home, and the content providers think they've been cheated?

What's that saying about lawyers first?

[lachihuahua]

03:11 PM on 04/11/2011

It says nothing great about them...but I suppose we'll have to see how the courts see the issue. (nn)

[DMSmith]

11:13 PM on 04/10/2011

Will be fun to watch.

[iPrayWallStreetCrash]

01:55 PM on 04/09/2011

who cares ? Apple is only 8% of the market...

[rocketman69]

01:33 PM on 04/10/2011

IPAD not iphone. Thats 73% of the tablet market.

[DMSmith]

11:12 PM on 04/10/2011

Everyone should. Because this not about only the iPad. Flex your Apple-hatred someplace where it might be relevant.
This ruling will apply to many (all) devices other than TVs. The implications are huge and all-pervasive.

[AP209]

06:28 PM on 04/08/2011

I like my Google stuff :)

[pita143]

12:05 PM on 04/08/2011

Let the cable companies get their stations off the IPad app. The fact is Time Warner has replaced those removed and added many more. The simple fact is those stations could easily have increased the cost to advertisers because of all the commercials that are shown even on the IPad.
I expect TW to add even more stations, Right now I get over 40 stations at no additional cost to me at all. I really don't see what the problem is, these cable stations would have access to an even larger audience than before with more people watching their shows.

[reasonshouldrule]

06:41 PM on 04/10/2011

The problem is that greed and logic don't always coincide. The court case should be interesting, and it should be determined by how the contracts read.