Streaming Platform Cable Subscriber Authentication
A design review of cable company authentication OR Why I can’t wait for a full a la carte subscription model
The cable tv industry is in full disruption mode. Most companies are holding on for dear life when it comes to subscribers from cable cutting. From the shake down Comcast gave Netflix to ESPN (et al Disney) suing Verizon to keep cable packages together the gatekeepers of video saw what the internet did the music industry and are trying at all cost to slow it down.
For the time being the cable companies still hold the keys to the most in demand video content. And as such we live in this hybrid world where we can stream existing cable video content through brand apps (Comedy Central, ESPN, NBC, etc) you still need an existing cable provider account to access content.
JP Morgan study found that a stand-alone premium content service like HBO Go or Showtime Anytime could sway 62 percent of that group to drop their existing cable service. — CNET
So while we are in that hybrid world in order to watch any content you have to go through a unstandardized process to authenticate your existing cable account. This is all assuming you don’t have amazing friends that’ll give you their login.
Provider Selection
Comedy Central is a great example of a company that thought about this process and and provided a somewhat seamless experience to authenticate your cable account.
Popular Providers
ESPN actually provides a screen listing the most popular service providers making the process to authenticate a little easier.
What's Missing?
Honestly.. Adding Remember Me functionality would save me from having to login every day (I’m looking right at you ESPN). Granted they want to make sure you have an active account but if they can offer persistent login for the streaming boxes like AppleTV and Roku, then why can’t they do this for the apps themselves? I use a Google Chromecast, which uses the app to control what’s playing, and this feature is long over do for a platform like it.
