Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes spent a good deal of time discussing Time Warner Cable today during his talk at Bear Stearn's annual media conference. But he shed little light on the company's apparently disintegrating AOL business.
During Time Warner's Q4 07 earnings call earlier this year, Bewkes, who took over as CEO in January, said that the media giant might shed its 84% ownership stake in separately traded Time Warner Cable. During the Bear Stearns talk, Bewkes couched this ownership sell-off as best for Time Warner Cable. "It might do better if it were better able to live as a separate ownership position," he said. Let's hope that's the case, because the ailing cable company has lost almost one-third of its value since going public as a separate stock a little more than a year ago.
Still, Bewkes rejected the phrasing that Time Warner is trying to "get rid of" Time Warner Cable, which, despite the poor stock performance and tough competitive positioning, is still a major source of cash for the parent company. "We're not trying to get rid of or sell the cable company," Bewkes said. He then added a curious after-statement: "We just don't necessarily think you need to own it" to the degree Time Warner owns it.
Bewkes offered little fresh insight into AOL. He stressed that online advertising, a strength in the AOL basket of services, is going strong even if the portal, search and other online efforts are sagging.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 1:48 PM | Print | Comments (0)With all the drama over Comcast's network management practices, one fact has often been obscured: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin really doesn't like the cable industry. In case we've all forgotten, USA Today's Paul Davidson has this piece today entitled "FCC chief Martin hasn't lost focus on cable." Martin, who is apparently trying harder these days to vet issues among his fellow commissioners, still has hope for doing something to make cable a la carte service a reality before he leaves the FCC.
He also plans to take action on the P2P throttling issue sometime during Q2 08. What he doesn't plan to do is name a date certain for when he will decamp from the Commission, despite pressure by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for him to do so. Congress wants him out of the way to ensure that a newly elected Democratic president can put the Dems in control of the FCC.
As for cable, it will have to live with Martin's weird fixation on its failings for at least another nine months (I say weird because although cable isn't exactly subject to as much competition as is desirable, neither are the wireless or telephone industries, and Martin doesn't, well, hate their guts.)
Speaking at a Bear Stearns conference yesterday, Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis sounded resigned to Martin's enmity. "We have a very good relationship with the Commission. It's one member that we have a bad relationship with," he said. "We've never had this kind of relationship [with the FCC] that's been as difficult as it has been."
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:17 AM | Print | Comments (1)
Blogs We Read
