Time Warner touts cable for film distribution

By Matt Chapman on Oct 3, 2006 9:45 AM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Model could push Warner ahead of iTunes.

Time Warner is planning to use its cable network to offer movies digitally to its customers, and has vowed to overtake models such as Apple's iTunes and other internet services.

Jeff Bewkes, president and chief operating officer at Time Warner, said that the company wanted to reap the benefits that were now available with the digital distribution of films.

"Our cable plant is the hidden story. It's a sleeping giant," he told the Financial Times.

"Already, 700 million people have cable boxes in their homes and if they can access movies through those, the effect will dwarf the digital distribution via iPods or the internet."

Time Warner now wants to make it as simple as possible for users to access films so that they are easier to distribute digitally.

Bewkes claimed that it is no longer a technical issue, but had become a question of rights and consumer habits.