Time Warner is committed to the traditional TV system, while also exploring new opportunities, chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said on the entertainment conglomerate's third-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The call featured much talk about HBO's planned online-only video service, as well as a carriage dispute between the firm's Turner unit and Dish. <\/p>\n
The comments came after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its full-year earnings growth forecast. <\/p>\n
Bewkes said that the company was focused on going after \"the large and growing opportunity\" in the global video content space by streamling the company and let its collaborative unit heads go after traditional and new business opportunities. He said TW was the \"best-positioned\" media company to take advantage of this. <\/p>\n
He also emphasized \"our commitment to a strong multi-channel eco-system\" after recent news that HBO would launch an online-only video service. <\/p>\n
In a rare occurrence, the call's Q&A portion also included the chiefs of TW's three units - Warner Bros. boss Kevin Tsujihara, HBO head Richard Plepler and Turner chief John Martin. Bewkes said they were on the call to help answer any follow-up questions after the company's investor day last month. <\/p>\n
Plepler discussed HBO's online-only plan, reemphasizing that the focus will be on collaborating with pay TV partners. \"We want to lean in with them,\" he said. \"Ive talked to all of our distributors.\" Plepler said he sees \"nothing but upside\" for all parties. <\/p>\n
Plepler reiterated that he wasn't abandoning existing pay TV relationships. This is not binary,\" he said. He wants to initially go after 70 million pay TV homes that do not get HBO right now, he reiterated. Plus, \"theres 4-5 million [broadband-only homes] that we can also get with our partners,\" he added. <\/p>\n
Plepler said he has talked to the top executives at NBCUniversal and Comcast, and they feel they will remain good business partners. NBCU boss Steve Burke had said he had been surprised by HBO's decision to launch an online-only service and said it would have a tough time with it. <\/p>\n
CFO Howard Averill said fourth-quarter Turner advertising revenue will be flat due to fewer sports playoff games, a strong dollar and a carriage dispute with Dish. Without these factors, the firm would have seen return to growth in the current quarter, he said. Averill said if Turner and Dish don't settle, the 2014 financial forecast will come in at the lower end of the range. He added that the firm is \"working hard\" to resolve the dispute. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read the original here: <\/p>\n
Time Warner Execs Talk Dish Dispute, HBO Online-Only Service<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Time Warner is committed to the traditional TV system, while also exploring new opportunities, chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said on the entertainment conglomerate's third-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday. The call featured much talk about HBO's planned online-only video service, as well as a carriage dispute between the firm's Turner unit and Dish. The comments came after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its full-year earnings growth forecast Continue reading