McSlarrow: Request for 'TV Everywhere' investigation is misguided

In reponse to the call by consumer advocacy groups for federal antitrust authorities to investigate the cable industry's "TV Everwhere" initiatives, Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, says the request "has no factual or legal basis."

Free Press and other groups today called TV Everywhere a "cartel" or an attempt at industry "collusion" by forcing consumers to buy a cable subscription for online content. McSlarrow says that's not so. He responded in a blog post that the product is designed to give cable, satellite and phone customers more content online "at no extra cost."

"As much as Free Press would like to suggest that something is radically different in this case, the TV Everywhere model would be nothing more than content owners extending their copyright licenses to allow multichannel video providers to make their programming available online," he said. 

"The fact that market participants are experimenting with models in addition to fee or advertiser-supported models is not a sign of anti-competitive conduct.  It is a sign of a dynamic and rapidly-changing market in which no one knows the ultimate outcome."