TV Everywhere was slow to catch on but is gaining popularity as more people get used to streaming on phones or tablets. Started in 2009, the idea was an attempt to appeal to young consumers by letting them access cable or satellite shows on any device. The problem stems from an industry concept called TV Everywhere. ESPN wants to work more closely with distributors to validate subscribers when there are high volumes of streaming on its app outside the cable company’s territory. The cable company wants programmers to restrict the number of concurrent streams on their apps and force legitimate subscribers to log in more often, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.ĮSPN, meanwhile, has reduced the number of simultaneous streams that it allows on its app to five from 10 and is considering cutting that to three, Connolly said. During contract negotiations this fall, Charter urged Viacom Inc., home of Comedy Central and MTV, to help limit illicit password swapping. Most pay-TV companies only require users to re-enter their passwords for each device once a year. But the prevalence of password sharing suggests many of those customers, and possibly many more, are watching popular shows like “The Walking Dead” for free, robbing pay-TV providers and programmers of paying subscribers and advertising dollars. And it’s not.”Ĭable and satellite carriers in North America have lost 3 million customers this year alone. The more the practice is viewed with a shrug, the more it creates a dynamic where people believe it’s acceptable.

“It’s people consuming something they haven’t paid for.

Everyone raised their hand, said Justin Connolly, executive vice president for affiliate sales and marketing for ESPN and other Disney networks. Researchers at Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN network recently asked a group of about 50 millennial sports fans how many of them shared passwords. The CEO has said that one unidentified channel owner had 30,000 simultaneous streams from a single account.Ĭharter, which operates in cities including New York and Los Angeles, isn’t the only company tackling the issue. “There’s lots of extra streams, there’s lots of extra passwords, there’s lots of people who could get free service,” Rutledge said at an industry conference this month. It’s a growing problem that could cost pay-TV companies millions of subscribers-and billions of dollars in revenue-when they can least afford it. The chief executive officer of Charter Communications Inc., which sells cable TV under the Spectrum name, is leading an industrywide effort to crack down on password sharing.

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