Bewkes: Everything Should Be VOD
Says Media Giant Will Be “Aggressive” In Putting Nets On Demand
By Mike Farrell -- Multichannel News, 2/6/2008 9:15:00 AM
After stirring up the market with plans to possibly spin off its cable and AOL online units, Time Warner Inc. CEO Jeff Bewkes aimed his sights at the media giant’s cable networks, telling analysts that he wants to be aggressive in making video on demand programming available across all of its networks.
“We and others in the industry need to be a bit more revolutionary than evolutionary in this area,” Bewkes said on a conference call with analysts Wednesday to discuss fourth- quarter results. “For some time I’ve had the strong belief that all linear ad-supported networks should make their programming lineups available on demand and on television sets, not just on broadband. It’s a win-win for consumers and networks alike. We’re going to be aggressive in putting our own networks on demand so we can show the industry the benefits of this model. We think it will cement the long-term prospects of these businesses.”
Bewkes has said this before, at the CTAM Summit in Washington, D.C. last July and at the National Show in Atlanta in 2006 -- but it was the first time he said it as CEO of the company. And that could mean that it will actually be done.
Several of Time Warner’s cable networks already offer some of their programming on demand, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and truTV. But Bewkes, who was the head of Time Warner’s Home Box Office division when it launched its highly successful HBO On Demand product, seems to want a more robust lineup of programming available.
Bewkes also doesn’t buy into the belief that making more programming available on VOD will reduce the linear channel’s viewership.
“I don’t see it as cannibalistic,” Bewkes said on the conference call. “I think it is the reverse – it supports viewership in these networks. It’s the best way to preserve and increase advertising. And it further gives the opportunity to use the targeting of the Internet to make advertising spots on the cable television screen even more valuable. We think it’s a triple win more than a double win.”
Just how and when that would work out, what channels would be available and what type of programming would be available on demand wasn’t revealed.
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