We've always heard that something's "on" when it hits the mainstream,
so we guess it's about time we finally confessed that Internet TV has
emerged from the closet. For the longest while,
Hulu, Boxee and the
like dominated the underground Web TV content scene, but it wasn't too
long ago that major cable companies like
Comcast and
Time Warner Cable
began to sit up and take notice.
Just a few months after the former initiated trial runs of its own
Internet TV platform, the latter has just announced that it is
launching a few trials of its own. Dubbed TV Everywhere, this portal
provides select TWC customers (all of them in time, obviously) with the
ability to watch some of their favorite programming online, anytime so
long as they are subscribed to a video package back home. If you don't
have a cable bundle that includes a certain channel, you won't be able
to watch that channel online. Currently, the lineup consists of TBS,
TNT, HBO, CBS, Syfy, BBC America, AMC, WE tv, IFC, Sundance Channel,
Discovery Communications and Smithsonian Channel.

TWC claims that this will be different that Hulu in that it will give
consumers access to programming that is currently not available online,
and in some cases, shows will be posted even quicker after the original
air date. Sadly, there's no live TV viewing here, which in our opinion
would've been the "killer app" to include if it really wanted this
program to be noticed. TWC is being quiet about where exactly these
test runs will go down, only noting that "select markets" will get them
over the next few months in order to get feedback from around 5,000 TWC
customers. Here's hoping you're one of the lucky few to get in early.