New York - Time Warner Inc. chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said that despite popular belief, the pay television business is healthy and growing, adding that initiatives like TV Everywhere are enhancing the value of subscription video packages.
Speaking at the UBS Media & Communications conference here Tuesday, Bewkes said that quality networks like Home Box Office, Showtime and others are "doing fine," adding that fears that online offerings would encourage so-called cord-cutting haven't materialized.
Time Warner and Bewkes were pioneers in the concept of TV Everywhere, where customers who pay for a video programming subscription are able to view programming on multiple devices for free. Bewkes said that Time Warner's Turner networks will be 80% TV Everywhere enabled by the end of the year. And he said instead of encouraging cord cutting, it is showing customers the inherent value of their video subscription.
Bewkes said that declines in pay TV customers are more due to economic difficulties rather than signaling a shift in distribution.
