Why are some TV show streams web-only?

Rob Pegoraro, Special for USA TODAY | USATODAY

Question: Why is it that I can watch some TV shows on a company's Web site but not in its apps?

Answer. This can be a singularly annoying experience — you fire up the app on a tablet or a connected TV, search for the programming that you know is available online, and see it listed as "Web only" or not appear in search results at all.

But it doesn't happen for a single reason.

In some cases, such as Hulu not offering NBC's 30 Rock in its mobile and TV apps, you can blame the contracts that the service negotiated with the studio or network that owns the show. Hulu originally negotiated only rights for Web viewing; when it began to ship separate apps, it had to go back to those same companies and strike a separate deal.

NBC publicists said they'd look into the situation but had not responded by Friday.

(You can still watch the dearly-departed comedy in NBC's own iOS app. But if we wind up having to run a different app to watch each network's fare, I will not be happy.)

In other cases, the company that owns the TV content elected to make in-app viewing a premium feature you must pay extra for, either via a direct subscription or by signing up for a separate service first.

That's how ESPN handles its ESPN3 online-only channel. Its WatchESPN.com site welcomes subscribers of more than 340 participating Internet providers to watch as much as they want of ESPN3 subject only to regional blackouts.

But tuning into that same channel in the sports network's WatchESPN apps requires that you also have TV service from one of only eight firms: Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Midcontinent Communications, Time Warner Cable and Verizon Fios (with AT&T's U-verse coming soon).

That is one way to run a video business. But when viewers run into these roadblocks, how many pay up or sign up? How many instead open a laptop to watch in a browser (possibly using an HDMI cable to play the video on a TV)? And who among them just give up and do something else?

Another way to run a video business is to accept that a viewer is a viewer, and that creating artificial distinctions between one program that plays Internet video and another may not win you new viewers, much less fans. After years of complaints, HBO added AirPlay support to its HBO Go app this week; now, subscribers can use that standard Apple feature to stream video from an iPad through an Apple TV to an HDTV instead of having to reach for a laptop and an HDMI cable.

Tip: You don't have to buy Apple cables from Apple

I've mentioned before how it's a waste to spend extra for fancy HDMI cables: Those all-digital connections either work perfectly or not, and I've had a 100 percent success rate buying cheap, generic cables from online vendors like Monoprice. The same principle applies to other digital connections, such as Ethernet and digital-audio cables. And even with analog links such as component video, you're unlikely to see or hear much of a difference in practice.

Until recently, buyers of Apple's current iPhone and iPad models haven't had that option when it came to replacing or augmenting the Lightning cables they require, at least if they wanted something certified by Apple. But as MacRumors noted last week, you now have some more cheaper options: Instead of the $19 Apple charges for a spare cable, you can pay $14.99 for Amazon's Apple-certified cable or, in a few weeks, $11.77 for Monoprice's.

—

Rob Pegoraro is a tech writer based out of Washington, D.C. To submit a tech question, e-mail Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/robpegoraro.