Time Warner Tipped To Keep TV Offline With Incentives To Content Groups

If you planned on getting your fair share of your favorite television show courtesy of the folks at Time Warner this upcoming entertainment season, you'd better guess again. According to sources speaking with Bloomberg – the anonymous type – Time Warner is offering incentives to media companies to keep their content away from the web. Strange as that might seem, they've suggested that keeping video content out of the libraries of Intel Corp and Apple are said to be just part of the equation.

What would such an embargo be worth to a content company with a high-quality television show that's otherwise standing to earn big cash from the web? At the moment we're not quite that far into the confirmation process. According to Bloomberg, Chief Financial Officer Chris Winfrey of Charter Communications Inc. spoke up earlier this week at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association show on the matter – sort of:

"It's in everybody's mutual interest that we are protecting the ecosystem in a way that continues to keep the value of that programming that we have and the way it's delivered to our subscribers today." – Winfrey for Charter Communications

And what of the next generation of internet exclusives? Netflix has been more than the average amount of vocal about their pushing of unique and exclusive series they, themselves, have funded. The Netflix-exclusive continuation of Arrested Development has seen high attention in the media as late due to its cult-classic status while the company suggests it'll be doubling original content next year.

Intel has been subject to some scrutiny for their 75% cable premium due to their inability to secure content deals. Meanwhile devices like Roku and the upcoming Fan TV device are continuing to push the web-connected content boat forward.

Cable viewers are left to wonder if they're better off continuing to subscribe to traditional television offerings, or if the wave of web-connected media is more their speed. It may come down to which companies bring in the best shows – the exclusive content wars rage on.