If you’ve been thinking of ditching your cable service, your local provider is hoping a new online streaming TV service in the works will leave you feeling like Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part III—“Every time I try to get out, they keep pullin' me back in.”

The TV Everywhere service—offered exclusively to subscribers, free of charge—will stream cable TV shows and movies to your computer from nearly two dozen content providers, including HBO/Cinemax (the first time viewers can catch shows such as True Blood and Entourage online) and CBS. The effort, proposed by Comcast and Time Warner, is a way for cable companies to remain relevant even as more viewers look online for TV shows and movies.

While Comcast and Time Warner are spearheading the initiative, it’s not exclusive, and could eventually be offered by any subscription-based TV service provider, including other cable companies, DirecTV and Dish satellite, and Verizon and AT&T as part of those companies’ TV services. And at some point, it's likely the TV Everywhere concept could be expanded from computers to mobile devices, such as smart phones

Comcast will be rolling out a national technical test of its service, called OnDemand Online, in the next few weeks. The trial, which will test the system’s authentication technology required to authorize access by subscribers, will involve about 5,000 randomly selected subscriber households across the country.

Assuming the test is successful, Comcast will roll out the service to all its customers by the end of the year. Subscribers will log into either Comcast.net or Fancast.com, Comcast's ad-supported video aggregator site, to view the online programming. Comcast tells me that the video subscriber’s stream will count against their Internet bandwidth cap of 250GB per billing period.

Time Warner Cable’s plans are less firm, though the cable company, which recently split from Time Warner Inc.—owner of HBO/Cinemax, TBS, TNT, CNN and Cartoon Network, among other properties—is actually already testing its own service with subscribers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It’s likely the company will have more to say once additional distribution partners, particularly satellite companies, sign on to participate.

Earlier this week, the TV Everywhere service received a boost when nearly two dozen new content partners came into the fold. In addition to Time Warner’s HBO/Cinemax, TBS, and TNT properties, plus Starz and CBS—the first broadcast partner—the service will include programming from A&E, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, E! Entertainment, The Style Network, and G4, plus Comcast’s own Fearnet channel.

While a good number of broadcast network TV shows are already available online, this is the first time that many cable offerings will be available on the Internet. An issue has been whether the typical ad-based approach, used by sites such as Hulu, can generate enough revenue to support online video. By tying online content to pay-TV subscriptions, cable networks are hoping to maintain the fees they receive as pay-TV operators, while helping them retain subscribers who might look elsewhere for online content. It will be interesting to see if streamed programs include the ads that ran when they were broadcast, and whether more targeted ads can be substituted within the video streams.

Some activist groups, including Public Knowledge and Media Access Project, have expressed concern about deals that restrict content to paid TV services, even if that content doesn't currently exist on the web. Public Knowledge said it would ask several federal agencies, including the FCC and the FTC, to review the initiative to determine if its anti-competitive. —James K. Willcox

Sirius XM’s free radio application for the iPhone has been downloaded more than a million times since its June release, the company recently crowed. That’s despite complaints that the software doesn’t allow you to stream such popular shows as Howard Stern and both MLB and NFL play-by-play, and Nascar radio.

Also, being a regular Sirius XM subscriber isn’t enough to use the app to access content. If you’re a subscriber with a basic plan who wants to stream your favorite shows, you must pay $2.99 extra per month, the add-on price for the “Premium” subscription, to listen with your iPhone (or iPod Touch) past the 7-day free trial.

The add-on is needed even if, like me, you’re one of Sirius XM’s most loyal subscribers, who extended your subscription this past winter for a year or two in return for free online access until your contract ran out.

Another tidbit Sirius XM didn’t tell those of us who locked in last winter: Our free extended online access is limited to their lower-grade 32k streaming audio, not the higher-quality 128k digital that Premium subscribers now get.

When I contacted Sirius XM, as a Consumer Reports representative, about the discrepancy between what they promised us and what we’re getting, a spokesperson told me, “All subscribers were notified the XM Radio Online platform would be upgraded as of March 11 to a higher quality digital audio and would no longer be included as part of a base satellite radio subscription at no charge.”

That’s true. Trouble is, the information Sirius XM sent me, and presumably thousands of others, last winter, never made clear that we’d receive a lower-quality feed if we locked in. Here’s what they actually said in their e-mail last winter:

“And if you renew now, you can continue to listen online FREE for the entire length of your subscription. Effective March 11, 2009, the XM Radio Online listening platform will be upgraded to a higher quality digital audio and no longer included as part of a base subscription at no charge. Save with Longer subscription Plans.”

The disparity between the original sales pitch and Sirius XM’s current stance has prompted a number of locked-in subscribers to fume online. Others are angry at having been downgraded from the 64k streaming that was available for free before March to the lower-grade service.

What makes Sirius XM’s strategy on iPhone access particularly puzzling is that it’s being carried out just as other new iPhone apps, from Pandora and Slacker, have begun offering music streaming for free (albeit with some advertising, which is absent from Sirius XM music channels).

Meanwhile, another Sirius XM price hike—and pitch to lock in to avoid it—looms, with the monthly fee for your first radio set to rise by $1.80 on July 29. More on that rate increase in an upcoming blog.

Have you downloaded the Sirius XM iPhone app? If you’re not a subscriber, has it prompted you to sign up for Premium service? Sirius XM subscribers: Are you planning to upgrade to use the iPhone app? Turning to other alternatives? Weigh in below. —Jeff Fox

To crack down on companies and individuals that are taking advantage of the severe recession, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched “Operation Short Change,” a combined effort by the FTC and law enforcement agencies to execute a number of cases against scammers.

The companies and people targeted seduce consumers to part with their money, by promising them loans, grants, debt reduction or renegotiation, and pushing work-at-home and other get rich quick schemes. Some perpetrators also trick victims into giving away personal information. Such predatory practices, either online or in infomercials, have cost consumers about $300 million, David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, told the Senate this week.

The FTC’s web site lists some of the companies and people that the FTC is taking action against. One of the operations listed is Google Money Tree —a company that has no affiliation with the Google search engine—which Consumer Reports recently reported on in an article warning readers about work-at-home scams. Operation Short Change has already initiated legal action against Google Money Tree in the US District Court of Nevada.

To avoid becoming a victim, Consumer Reports recommends that you steer clear of work-at-home “jobs” that promise big bucks overnight. Be wary of companies that flaunt the word “stimulus.” And be especially cautious about companies that use clever, official-sounding titles.

Also, before doing business with a company you don’t know, make sure you check its credentials at the Better Business Bureau’s Web page. If the company gets an “F”—like Google Money Tree did—stay away.

For free information and advice about staying safe online, visit our Online Security Guide.

Have you encountered an online scam that takes advantage of the economic crisis? Tell us about it below.— Will Dilella

Prepaid
cell service—as in service without a contractual obligation or early
termination fee—continues to surge in popularity. If you’re intrigued by
making the switch from a traditional contract plan, but haven't been keeping up
with the fast-changing options to do so, here’s why you might want to try
prepaid:

1. Prepaid plans offer a diversity of pricing schemes. You can buy prepaid service in three different ways:

• Prepaid bundles. These range between 30 to 5,000 minutes and cost $10 to $400;

• Pay-as-you-go plans. These charge 5 to 25 cents per minute used, with or
  without a $1 to $2 daily access fee or per-day-use charge; and

• Monthly-fee plans. These are much like a traditional contract plan, and range
  from 50 minutes to unlimited minutes per month.

2. You may save money—especially now. In the last Consumer Reports survey of satisfaction with cell-phone service, more than 70 percent of those who had switched from a regular contract-based plan said prepaid was costing them less. And that was before what’s starting to look like a price war in prepaid. The latest salvo: Two Tracfone monthly plans under the brand name “Straight Talk,” available in about half of the country. One plan offers 1,000 voice minutes, 1,000 text or multimedia messages, and 30 MB of data over Verizon’s network for just $30; the other unlimited voice and text, plus 30 MB of web access for $45.

Boost Mobile offers unlimited voice, text messaging, web, and push-to-talk for $50 per month. Virgin Mobile offers unlimited voice plans for $50 from $80, but charges an additional $10 for unlimited text messaging, and for 50MB of web access.

3. Prepaid phones are no longer just plain vanilla. True, you can’t— at least yet—get prepaid plans for the iPhone, Palm Pre, and some other hot phones. But you can get models with cameras, web access, Bluetooth capability, and QWERTY keypads.For example, MetroPCS Communications offers the Blackberry Curve, while both PCS and Leap Wireless offer various Nokia, Samsung, and Motorola phones. (See our full Ratings
of cell phones and smart phones, available to subscribers.)

4. Apps and capabilities are growing. A few examples: Virgin Mobile phones have access to social networking,
chat, and find-a-date services. Boost offers Fox Sports newscasts, games, and
navigation applications.

5.
You may not need to buy a new phone.
Prepaid service isn’t provided only by relatively unfamiliar names, but by the
major contract carriers. (Sprint offers prepaid through its separate Boost
brand.) In some cases, you don’t need to switch phones to switch plans. You may
even be able to use your GSM phone (from AT&T, Net10, T-Mobile, and
Tracfone) with another GSM carrier.

However, prepaid plans aren’t for everyone, and not every prepaid option is a bargain. We’ll detail what to watch out for in an upcoming blog.—Jeff Blyskal