Time Warner’s TBS, TNT cable channels to begin streaming online

Time Warner Inc.’s TBS and TNT channels will begin streaming their content online 24 hours a day this summer, letting pay-TV subscribers watch the networks using the Web or a mobile-device application.

To watch the streams, users will have to log in with their account information from their cable or satellite service, Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting System said today in a statement. The company made the announcement at this week’s annual upfront event, where networks show their new schedules to advertisers.

The channels are making the move as part of an industry shift toward “TV everywhere,” which lets viewers see the same content online that they typically get from their cable box. Walt Disney Co. unveiled a similar service this week called Watch ABC, which allows pay-TV viewers to get live access to shows on the network via computers and mobile devices.

“Tablets and smartphones become television sets, bringing new opportunities for us and for advertisers,” Steve Koonin, a Turner executive, said in today’s statement.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Turner in New York at nturner7bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7bloomberg.net