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–Service Supplements TV Programming with Web Video

Time Warner Cable has launched a service called Quick Clips that allows its digital cable customers to access a range of short-form video content on-demand on their televisions, including content produced for the Internet. The service, which the MSO is initially making available in its South Carolina systems (where it has around 150,000 digital subs), currently offers short-form content from CNBC, CNN and The Weather Channel. According to Time Warner Cable, Quick Clips uses IP technology and new software to push short-form content created by the participating channels to its "Enhanced TV" service: the content is available on the service within minutes of its original Web posting, the MSO says. Thus, a Time Warner Cable subscriber who was watching an episode of The Weather Channel show, "Storm Stories," could press "select" and access additional content, such as a local weather forecast; once the subscriber finished viewing the additional content, he or she would be returned to "Storm Stories." Subscribers are alerted to the availability of the new feature via on on-screen prompt that announces that "Enhanced TV" features are available on the channel they are currently tuned to. When they press "select," a menu appears showing all the MSO’s "Enhanced TV" features, which include the network DVR service, Start Over (allows customers to jump to the beginning of the program they are currently watching), as well as the new Quick Clips service. "Continuing the company’s tradition of innovation, Time Warner Cable’s Quick Clips makes short-form, time-sensitive programming, such as news segments and local weather forecasts, available for our customers to view when they want, on their schedule," Bob Benya, Time Warner Cable’s SVP of on-demand product management, said in a prepared statement. "We are committed to providing our customers with this type of convenience by leveraging our advanced digital platform."

Quick Clips content currently available from CNN includes broadband content from the company’s Web site in the categories Top Stories, US, World, Politics, Law, Business, Sci-Tech, Sports, Health, Offbeat, Entertainment and Best of TV. Once the CNN category has been selected, viewers can choose from various stories that are usually drawn from the top headlines of the day. Quick Clips content from CNBC includes CEO interviews, analyst reports, and market and industry updates. CNBC is providing five new clips a day, ranging from two to seven minutes in length. The Weather Channel, meanwhile, is providing the service with local and regional weather forecasts updated twice a day, a weekly planner, top stories, and content from its "Storm Stories" series. "Weather has a ‘perishable’ quality that is ideal for Quick Clips and we are pleased to provide Time Warner Cable with weather content that has the distinctive brand of The Weather Channel," Becky Powhatan, The Weather Channel’s EVP of distribution and business affairs, said in a prepared statement. "Our offerings will include: time-sensitive local and regional weather forecasts by on-camera meteorologists, the top weather stories of the day, and a ‘Weekly Planner’ for the week ahead. Changes in the weather can have an impact on consumers, creating a need for immediate access that is very well served by Time Warner’s innovative Enhanced TV platform." Time Warner Cable says that it expects to increase the number of channels offering the Quick Clips service and that it plans to launch the service in additional markets later this year.

Originally Published: October 17, 2006 Part 3 in [itvt] Issue 7.00

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