Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes announced Monday the possible institution of a new business model to keep pace with the evolution of the TV industry. At an investor conference in New York City, Mr. Bewkes said, that if HBO, his company’s leading cable network, becomes “overly hindered by having it only available to you in $60, $80 or $100 packages,” it might be made available outside the traditional cable-channel packages.
Time Warner reported recently on its expectation of a 1.5 million loss of HBO subscribers this year. Many investors have begun to view Netflix Inc., the online video and DVD-by-mail provider, as a competitor to HBO, and have expressed concern about the financial impact of the online video service on TV networks business. Mr. Bewkes has argued against media companies selling the rights to their own movies to low-cost services like Netflix, claiming that they are working against their own financial interests. He said that when Time Warner’s own distribution deal with Netflix comes up for renewal, the company may mandate a longer delay time before its video content can be made available by Netflix.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.