CNN Starts Live Streaming to the Web, iPad and iPhone

 by Christina Warren

Select cable subscribers will be able to access 24-hour live broadcast streams from CNN and HLN on CNN.com, the CNN App for iPad andCNN for iPhone, CNN has announced.

Right now, the live access to CNN is only available to AT&T, Comcast, Cox, DISH Network, Suddenlink and Verizon customers. That leaves out some of the major cable providers, like Time Warner Cable and Cablevision.

CNN, a Mashable content partner, is joining the ranks of other cable networks like ESPN in providing access to its live broadcast content on a multitude of devices and platforms. In the industry, this is widely known as TV Everywhere. For cable companies and networks, TV Everywhere is perhaps the most potent answer to online subscription streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus. The idea is to give cable subscribers additional platform options.

For content companies like CNN, it also means more potential eyeballs. In a statement, Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide said, “A principal goal for CNN is to make more of our content available to more people on more platforms, and CNN’s participation in the TV Everywhere initiative is another step forward in that effort.”

Last week, I spoke to Ron Frankel, the CEO of Synacor, a company that powers TV Everywhere portals for various ISPs, including Suddenlink. Frankel told me that TV Everywhere is already showing real promise with consumers.

“The response and uptake we’re seeing is phenomenal,” he said. “Thanks to HBO Go, millions of people are now familiar with entering in their account ID to access TV Everywhere content.”

HBO launched its TV Everywhere initiative, HBO Go in May, and the app has already been downloaded more than 3 million times.

With Netflix’s recent price hike announcement causing outrage from users, this could be TV Everywhere’s opportunity to get a foothold into a market that at one point seemed Netflix’s to lose.

What do you think about TV Everywhere, live streaming of television broadcasts online and the convergence of devices? Let us know in the comments.

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