Less than 24 hours after reporting Time Warner’s completely out-of-touch idea to woo back cord cutters by showing fewer commercials, we’re now seeing there is indeed more to its plan.
They plan to piss off Netflix users.
“We are evaluating whether to retain our rights for a longer period of time and forego or delay certain content licensing. This would effectively push the [subscription video] window for content on our networks to a multi-year period more consistent with traditional syndication,” said CEO Jeff Bewkes during yesterday’s earnings call.
Translation: Rather than licensing reruns to Netflix, Time Warner is instead evaluating its current content licensing agreements to see if they might be better served by retaining the rights and syndicating the content on its own networks.
It’s a bold move foregoing the licensing profits that are keeping many networks afloat in an attempt to ensure the longterm viability of television.
Honestly, I don’t think it matters either way. In my mind this ensures the death of cable television won’t be the slow and drawn-out process we thought it’d be. Instead, we’re goign to see networks crumble under the weight of lost licensing revenue all while realizing (far too late) that hoarding content isn’t the answer to increasing subscriber numbers.
If yesterday’s announcement leaned toward Time Warner being out-of-touch with the wants of the modern content consumer, today proved that they might have lost their sense of touch altogether.
➤ Time Warner Says It’s Ready to Start the Great Netflix Pullback [Re/Code]
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