Roku, Twitter Cited Among Tech Companies That Complement Cable
Several technology companies see themselves as complements to cable, not competitors, their executives said at NCTA’s annual show Monday. Jawbone, Roku, Twitter and Vox Media executives said their products can expand TV viewing, and some have deals with operators. Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge was among panelists who said the cable industry needs to innovate more quickly, while a Twitter executive reaffirmed the company’s commitment to users as some websites have reportedly worked with the National Security Agency on the Prism surveillance program (CD June 10 p5) .
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Twitter is “very interested to see how this story plays out,” said Chief Operating Officer Ali Rowghani, declining to comment about the NSA program. A “core value” of the company is to protect and defend users, he said. The microblogging site balances abiding by the law with “doing what’s right by our users, and we'll continue to do that,” said Rowghani. There’s no bigger backer of the TV business than Twitter, which can measure “social engagement around programming,” he said. His advice to operators has been: “View technology as a friend, as an enabler of new experiences for customers, as opposed to a foe, a disrupter."
The cable industry, which spends billions of dollars annually on technology and infrastructure (see separate report in this issue), should go even “faster,” said Rutledge. “I'd like to see us go faster, even though we are going very fast and the capacity of the networks is coming up.” Continuing to build networks will “create demand” for things like programming, as “anything you put anywhere is going to end up on any screen.” Someone will invent a device for that use if one isn’t already on the market, said Rutledge. “If you think you can segregate where it goes by calling this the Internet and this cable TV, someone will build a machine to disabuse you of this notion."
Broadcast-network and cable channel programming executives acknowledged the prevalence of second screens of TV programming on devices other than sets, on the panel that followed the one with Rutledge and the tech companies. “The consumer has taken control and they're not giving it back,” said Anne Sweeney, co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group. A&E Networks sees “every platform as an opportunity to do different things” like second-screen episodes that can show “what occurs in between seasons,” said CEO Josh Sapan.
Roku General Manager-Content and Services Steve Shannon’s advice to cable operators is to embrace “the Internet for distribution of content,” he said on the earlier tech panel. It’s the “revenge of the TV,” which remains the primary place people want to watch content. Having to log in to watch a show is a “problem” that’s “ripe for solving,” said Shannon. Roku doesn’t deserve the “cord cutter brush” it gets “painted with,” because about 70 percent of its subscribers also buy cable, said Shannon. The focus on TV Everywhere stimulates “a lot of affinity for the cable package,” he said.
Media and technology companies “can move a lot faster,” said CEO Jim Bankoff of Vox, which has sports-focused websites. “You can’t be afraid to disrupt anyone, especially yourselves,” he said. “Get out of the cycle for waiting for the fall release schedule and test things.” Vox’s business “was enabled by broadband, so we certainly see ourselves as a friend of the industry,” said Bankoff. Comcast Interactive Capital is a Vox investor, said his biography on the Cable Show’s website. The cable industry has “opportunities to try things” and “fail quickly,” said Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman. “As long as people are using them,” he said of what results from such forays, “there are opportunities.”