Time Warner Slams Netflix

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes scoffed at the growing popularity of Netflix, perhaps in an attempt to downplay the potential threat that, some say, Netflix poses to traditional media companies.

"It's a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?" Bewkes told the Times. "I don't think so."

As Fast Company points out, Netflix depends on partnerships with the likes of Time Warner in order to deliver DVD and streaming content to customers. An advantageous deal that Netflix struck with Starz media--a deal which will expire in 2011, the Times reports--has been a thorn in the side of cable and satellite companies since 2008. "Why should anyone subscribe to Starz when they can basically get the whole thing [from Netflix] for about nothing?" Bewkes said. "That doesn't make much sense."

Writes Fast Company, "Between Internet-enabled television, Boxee, Google and Apple TV, Netflix and Hulu, there's only so much old world media companies and cable TV channels can do to stave off the growing threat of the digital age."

Perhaps Bewkes is more concerned about Netflix than he lets on.

Comments

[talos72]

10:10 PM on 12/15/2010

I remember when a decade ago the record companies started "dissing" the mp3 format: who wants to listen to inferior sound quality, people will always want to hit the record stores and buy CD's. We the record companies should decide how people listen to their music.

Warner slamming is a desperate attempt at closing that barn door...the horses are already out. Movie theaters will be the Albanian army with the film studios as their generals sitting in the cold wondering what the heck happened.

[PNWTrillium]

11:41 AM on 12/15/2010

Wasn't it Blockbuster that scoffed all the way to bankruptcy about Netflix?

There are fewer and fewer reasons to even watch local tv. The local news stations have been relegated to a overblown police blotter. Not much on investigative reporting. They don't even stream their content. Their sites are slow to update if at all. Local weather was another reason to turn on but really it can be easily found online and they get to the point. You don't have to listen to them repeat it all. No commercials. Many local stations are airing shows that are just paid advertisements which really smacks of desperation on their part. Few shows are original/worthy.

National evening news is very controlled by what the network wants to put out, not what is actually happening. They also fear lawsuits and tippy toe around all sorts of issues. Very disappointing.

We are watching the end of network and local tv as we knew it. Much like the pony express it takes way too long and costs too much to pay Katie Couric millions of dollars to read 20 minutes of fluff news. There are no Edward R. Morrows out there anymore and big corporations control the message too much. Online it is free for all and exchanges and things get noticed from everywhere.

Netflix does suffer from "I too wanna be a cable company but online". They are all jocking for who is going to be king of what viewers watch. Time will tell.

[docpark]

11:04 AM on 12/15/2010

Blockbuster and makers of grammophones have a lot to share with you Mr. Time Warner. Lower your prices and people may come back to the slop trough.

[giverny98]

08:29 AM on 12/15/2010

He's got it exactly backwards. I don't want to pay extra for Starz, but I wanted to watch "Pillars of the Earth". Courtesy of Netflix, I did. Side bonus ... I didn't have to enrich Time Warner Cable's coffers more than I already do.

[SCboy]

07:50 AM on 12/15/2010

From the CEO to the people who work in "customer service" at the local strip mall office, Time Warner sucks. Pride goeth before the fall, you big dummies.

[dkliman]

06:39 PM on 12/14/2010

The thing that "doesn't make sense" is how anybody would pay anything for starz at all... if the only way to be forced is to be under the boot of a monopoly, then that proves how bad these cable monopolies are.

The only way to rectify this situation is to take away cable company monopolies. first step is to get anybody in the wire laying business out of any and all content or service businesses altogether. second step is to guarantee that only IEEE standards are deployed throughout the network, so that anybody anywhere at any time can add compliant devices to have for example, faster speeds, or more new features.

This way no cable company can say, "we are going to shut you down, netflix." they would then be in just as much of a position to do that as they are to block public highways and start charging tolls there.

[Max Shaw]

06:04 PM on 12/14/2010

I hate Time Warner...sadly its really the only option where I live. I would kill for RCN instead!

[giverny98]

08:32 AM on 12/15/2010

U-Verse is coming to my neighborhood shortly. Buh bye TWC!

[UncleRon]

03:50 PM on 12/14/2010

I don't care if he's more worried than he lets on or not. I don't care if he's scared shi**ess. As long as he and the rest of 'Cabletown' don't use their ENORMOUS political clout and $$$ to stifle the Web, throttle bandwidth or some other rotten tricks.

Uncle Ron

[giverny98]

08:32 AM on 12/15/2010

Nice wish Uncle Ron, but you KNOW they're doing just that!

[sidbrown210]

03:49 PM on 12/14/2010

I'm on board. Just bought Roku - three boxes and will be shutting down "cable" in a week or so.

[vyfareon]

05:41 PM on 12/14/2010

I love my Roku boxes. I'm not sure they will be relevant for long, but these days, what technology is? Check out some of the other channels that Roku offers besides Netflix.

Why wait for something to record on a DVR or play with commercials when you can get so much content on demand with no annoying ads?

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

03:17 PM on 12/14/2010

2005: Newspapers scoff at the rise of internet news, calling it a "fad."

Oh... wait....

[PhineasGage730]

03:14 PM on 12/14/2010

Time Warner sucks! The two most recent apartment complexes I live in had a deal with Time Warner and you could only get that. After a month I just cut off my cable and sold my TV. I h@te them.

[sidbrown210]

03:48 PM on 12/14/2010

Before you rent, always know who the provider is. It makes a biiiiiig difference.

[rktboy]

03:11 PM on 12/14/2010

Well, news to Mr. Bewkes: after two years of over priced, subpar service from TW's Cable division, today, I officially move on to greener pastures. But I'm still a Netflix subscriber.

....just sayin'.

[ZSV]

03:01 PM on 12/14/2010

Screw cable tv, satellite tv, blockbuster, Go rabbit ears / internet / netflix !!!!!!

[UncleRon]

03:53 PM on 12/14/2010

Good call, so long as you can continue to get bandwidth ("Cabletown" owns most of it in the US) and continue to get content. "Cabletown" is not "going gently into that dark night."

They will use ENORMOUS political influence and $$$ to keep the license-to-print-money they got from thousands of municipalities around the country.

VIGILENCE!!!!

Uncle Ron

[omg wtf lol bbq]

10:41 PM on 01/10/2011

Comcast does this thing where they'll charge you more for internet by itself than internet+basic cable. So when football and the TV shows I actually watch end, the DVR goes back and the internet gets upgraded.

If Clear offered similar speeds and bandwidth amounts as Comcast, I'd be running fully wireless instead. Until we get to that point...

[KsWrangler]

02:49 PM on 12/14/2010

Time Warner says this? Dang, the Albanian is going to take over the world.

[captcct]

02:25 PM on 12/14/2010

Anyone using a Windows PC or AOL is deluded. Get an Apple Mac. No viruses, no bs, no malware. Safari (also free download even for PC's) is ten times, no a thousand times better than daft Windows.
Firefox is also a better alternative to Windows. It is time to close the Gates. Why, because through stealth and cleverness Steve Jobs has created the best... end of story. And please no reply comments from the Linux crowd. And Netflix has advanced into the 21st Century too. Hurray! Superb service whether via DVD or streaming. They have certainly made the opposition sit up and take notice. Kudos to them. Also see LiveStation (another free download) that provides reality, factuality and actuality via France24, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, Sky, etc., instead of the constant repeat crap on CNN (the so-called leader in news = in their dreams; or maybe back when Ted Turner first started it) and let's just ignore the malevelont Fawx with their rubbish along with anything in the printed media that the kangaroo hopping Aussie Murdoch produces. Sorry for being frank!

[Brian Burke]

02:40 PM on 12/14/2010

Self important and ignorant isn't a good combination to put together.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

03:22 PM on 12/14/2010

What does Mac have anything to do with this, or is this some kind of viral marketing?

But since you made the claim that Mac is such a superior product, let's put your Mac against my 5 year old PC and run some stress testing benchmarks. FurMark and RightMark.

Let's do this.

[GomezAddams]

04:29 PM on 12/14/2010

Wonder if Steve Jobs will ever realize that Apple has become the man on the wall.

'1984' Apple Macintosh Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8