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Time Warner viewers gain 'Start Over' option(San Antonio Express-News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oct. 21--Time Warner Cable on Monday will launch a new service here that will let its digital cable TV subscribers press a button to restart their favorite shows, movies or sporting events from the beginning -- for free and without using a digital video recorder. Time Warner is introducing the feature, called "Start Over," as one of its largest rivals, San Antonio-based telecom giant AT&T Inc., debuts its own pay TV service, called U-verse, in the Alamo City. "Start Over surely sets us apart from our competitors," Time Warner spokesman Jon Gary Herrera said. "We know that, technologically, this is something our competitors can't offer. The final credits can be rolling, and you press a button to go right back to the beginning." San Antonio is the first market where Time Warner is offering Start Over outside of its Columbia, S.C., test market. Customers in Columbia now use Start Over three times more often than they do the video-on-demand programming, Herrera said. AT&T officials were not available for immediate comment on the rollout. The company launched its U-verse video service here this summer, saying it will expand into at least 15 markets by year's end. AT&T wants to get into the video business to counter the moves of Time Warner and other cable companies, which have moved aggressively into the phone business. The companies are battling to sell consumers service bundles that include phone, video and high-speed Internet service. Although analysts don't expect Start Over to win Time Warner many new customers, it can help keep subscribers happy and lessen the chance they'll jump ship to a competitor. Tweaking AT&T isn't the only reason Time Warner selected San Antonio for its first wide-scale introduction of Start Over, but analysts said it doesn't hurt that the company is able to offer something its competitors can't. "If you're going to roll out something new, why not do it somewhere that's going to boost your image against a competitor who's launching their own service that's being viewed as cutting edge?" IMS Research analyst Paul Erickson said. "They can eat away at AT&T's appeal," he said. Time Warner first will introduce Start Over in neighborhoods west of downtown, making it available within 60 days to all San Antonio-area customers who subscribe to its digital service -- more than half its 360,000 subscribers. The feature works via the set-top box used by digital customers. While Start Over lets viewers rewind and pause programs, they cannot fast-forward or use Start Over to skip commercials. And, initially, only a portion of Time Warner's programming can be restarted. The company must negotiate agreements with the networks it carries and with content producers like Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema before it can make shows Start Over-enabled. It wants to avoid legal troubles like cable provider Cablevision Systems Corp. experienced this year when studios and networks sued it over a new video-on-demand service. In addition to hit movies and sporting events, the company has obtained the rights to offer Start Over for popular shows including the "Tonight Show," the "Daily Show" and "Larry King." The service, experts said, will appeal to the 65 percent of Time Warner digital customers who don't pay up to $9 extra a month for the company's digital video recorder. While the idea of watching programs on their own time is appealing to consumers, some balk at the additional cost or worry about learning to operate a feature. Analysts said cable carriers must offer subscribers more bang for their buck -- and not just to compete against AT&T. In the San Antonio area, Time Warner also faces Dish Network and DirecTV -- the two national satellite TV providers -- and cable TV provided by San Marcos-based Grande Communications Inc. and New Braunfels-based GVTC Communications Inc. And, increasingly, consumers are turning to the Web and electronic devices for entertainment content, including video. "A lot of what cable is doing right now is jockeying for position," said Mukul Krishna, digital media analyst for Frost & Sullivan in San Antonio. "The video market is going to get very crowded." [email protected] Time Warner is offering Start Over time warner Time Warner to launch 'Start Over' cable service on Monday Summary: Time Warner Cable on Monday will launch a new service here that will allow its digital cable TV subscribers to press a button to restart their favorite shows, movies or sporting events from the beginning -- for free and without using a digital video recorder. ONLINE LINKS AT&T U-verse -- http://www.sbc.com/gen/u-verse?pid=7871&cdvn=custom Time Warner Cable, San Antonio -- http://www.timewarnercable.com/sanantonio/ To see more of the San Antonio Express-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mysanantonio.com. Copyright (c) 2006, San Antonio Express-News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |