TW’s Bewkes Again Backs Broadcasters on Retrans
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes continues to endorse broadcasters’ view on retransmission consent, he told investors Wednesday. That keeps him at odds with the company’s former Time Warner Cable unit, the lead petitioner for reforms in how the FCC handles contractual disputes between TV stations and subscription-video providers. “We think on the whole it’s desirable” for broadcast networks to build up a second revenue stream, Bewkes said on a conference call to discuss earnings.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Retransmission consent ensures that the networks will continue buying programming from Warner Bros., Bewkes said. “We're actually kind of happy if broadcasters revitalize their programming,” he said. “We have a very healthy business at Warner Brothers making TV series for the broadcast networks.” Time Warner’s cable networks rely on the popularity of broadcast programming to boost demand for shows in cable syndication, he said. “The successful shows that come off broadcast networks are then available for the leading cable networks like TNT and TBS, and they're a pretty important part of the ecosystem,” he said. “It is a very beneficial cycle for the industry and for us."
Time Warner’s deal with Netflix to put off the distributor’s access to DVDs until 28 days after they're released for sale has helped the cable programmer’s home entertainment business, CEO Jeff Bewkes said. Time Warner is seeing DVD sales for hit movies stronger and more sustained that first month than they were before the deal, he said. It also could increase VoD revenue through Time Warner’s pay-TV partners, Bewkes said. “You still have a fair amount of upside room for activity and effort” in marketing VoD to consumers and putting more content on that platform, he said. “We think this is working already, and it’s going to work better as we go along."
Time Warner’s HBO will be available to additional subscribers online within a year, Bewkes said. “You see it already with our biggest distributors like Verizon and Comcast,” where HBO is available on VoD and online, he said. “But soon you're going to see HBO on all our broadband devices” for pay-TV subscribers that take the premium service. For now, HBO’s broadband service will have more content available than its content partners will have on their VoD platforms, he said. That will change as distributors build out their VoD services, he said. The broadband service will also be limited to active HBO subscribers, Bewkes said. “You paid for it, and you should have it, and we're going to have our distributors who are very important partners in doing this be part of the equation,” he said. HBO could offer its online service separately sometime, but it’s not ready to do that, Bewkes said.
The programming Time Warner sells Netflix for its online streaming service is content that TW hasn’t been able to sell anywhere else, he said. Shows like Nip/Tuck that haven’t been picked up for syndication, and older movies, exemplify Warner Bros.’ contribution to Netflix streaming, he said.
Time Warner Q2 sales gained 8 percent from a year earlier to $6.4 billion. Revenue at its cable networks rose 11 percent to $3.2 billion. Profit gained 7.2 percent to $562 million.