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Time Warner Cable does not plan to chase NBCU after it splits with Time Warner Inc. at the end of the year, Time Warner Inc. CFO John Martin told investors at a conference. Martin also said digital is not cannibalizing DVD sales, and warned that AOL’s third-party ad network momentum is slowing.
Speculation has had it that Time Warner Cable will attempt to acquire NBCU, but Martin seemed to dismiss the idea, saying he didn’t think it was for sale. He added, though, that the company would be interested in “taking a look,” as it always is, if NBCU does come on the block. (NBCU chief Jeff Zucker has insisted repeatedly that it is not for sale, and a GE reorg in June left NBCU alone.)
Martin didn’t offer many details on the cable split, beyond pointing to the company’s decision to opt out of a potential Weather Channel purchase, saying the company had reached “a point of intolerance as it came to the economics.” That level of discipline, he said (via Multichannel News) will continue to apply to everything else going forward.
He also said that there is no indication that digital business is cannibalizing DVD sales; VOD buy rates are up more than 50 percent, while DVD sell-through is up 10 percent, writes The Hollywood Reporter.
Martin said that content is and will remain “the lifeblood of Time Warner,” predicting that it will, in fact, make up a bigger part of the business in the future.
The economy has not hurt Time Warner’s cable TV networks, he said - third-quarter sales remain strong, though the company’s AOL unit has seen some softening in third-party ad network momentum, particularly in the auto and financial categories.
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