Bewkes: Time Warner to Kick Off Premium VOD Next Summer

Conglomerate will be the first to implement new service that delivers just-released movies into homes

Time Warner will kick off its new premium video-on-demand service next summer.

So said CEO Jeff Bewkes, who outlined the conglomerate's emerging digital strategy to investors at Time Warner's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

Discussing myriad digital distribution strategies, Bewkes said his company was moving along with a plan to offer first-run movies to homes weeks — or even days — after their theatrical release for a price of around $30. 

These films would be offered in high-definition, with some of them even available in 3D.

"We're near agreement with our distributors on the right window and the right price point," Bewkes tolda investors, "and we expect to start offering our movies this way nationwide by the second quarter of next year."

Most of Time-Warner's rivals have similar premium VOD strategies in development, but the conglomerate is the first to set a timeline for deployment of the new release window.

Meanwhile, Bewkes took the opportunity to address other emerging digital strategies in the company's portfolio — among them, TV Everywhere, the plan that lets cable and satellite subscribers watch shows on Time Warner platforms on any device at any Internet-connected location.

Bewkes said the initiative has made "significant progress" since he first announced it early last year.

"Every major programmer has announced plans to participate," he noted, while rattling of a list that included CBS, ABC, NBC Universal, News Corp and ESPN. "In the last few weeks, we've launched TV Everywhere versions of TNT and TBS across the entire footprints of both Comcast and Dish, and we have many more announcements pending.

Adhering to the theme of making Time Warner content available on myriad digital devices, Bewkes also made brief mention of Ultraviolet, a digital home-entertainment distribution strategy jointly being cooked up by a consortium of studios and consumer electronics makers, the Digital Entertainment Content Echosystem.

The consortium is trying to create a "digital locker," which would store purchased content in a virtual cloud for purchasing consumers to enjoy on any device at any locations.

"It should make digital ownership just as compelling and convenient as owning a DVD, if not more so," Bewkes said. "We can't be more specific about the plans for Ultraviolet today, but you can expect to hear a lot more about it and related initiatives in the coming months."

With HBO expected to lose about 1.5 million subscribers this year, Bewkes was also asked about "chord cutting," with investors fearful that consumers will start canceling cable subscriptions en masse in favor of streaming services being offered by Internet companies like Netflix.

"On the cord-cutting, we're not seeing it," he said. "We doubt that wer're going to see it, although we'll all watch for it. If you look at TV viewing across all the different networks, it's a very healthy picture."

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