Timewarner CEO wants Apple to make a TV
NEW YORK–Bring on the new TV, Apple, the chief executive of Time Warner said today.
Jeff Bewkes, speaking during a Business Insider conference in New York, said he hopes Apple makes an innovative TV. And he expects other companies to create similar products as well.
“I think Apple’s a great device company,” with the ability to take products that were called commodities, create differentiation, charge premium prices, build ecosystems, and create loyalty, he said.
“If they bring good interface navigation skills to the interface of TV and devices, when we’re talking about 200 channels of really good content people really love, that’s solving the problem we’re talking about,” Bewkes said. “I think that’s great.”
However, he said Apple won’t be the only company working on this. He noted that “no digital intermediary can get rights or exclusivity to rights. There’s just too many of them.”
As for Netflix, Bewkes said the company has done a “very good job” and is a good place for syndicated, rerun, serialized shows. He added that Netflix and others will make their own shows, and some of them will be good. But the money they’re spending can’t measure up to the $5 billion a year Time Warner spends on production.
“So, welcome,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bewkes said TV isn’t dying. Some consumers are just watching it in different ways and on different devices.