Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes: Era of Media Moguls Is Over

NEW YORK - The era of media moguls is over, Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said here Wednesday.

Nowadays, big companies are the stars, and firms from the traditional and new media worlds act on the same stage, he said on the opening day of the 2010 International Council Meeting at The Paley Center for Media in a session that was webcast.
In the old media business world, people spoke of moguls who were often self-promoting guys and undisciplined when it came to deals and the like. "We're not moguls anymore," Bewkes said later. "We're reasonable people" who try to make the right decisions.

Asked about Netflix, which has given industry players headaches as they try to figure out whether it is friend or foe, Bewkes lauded the convenience and "great interface" of its online streaming service.

“We don’t worry about antagonizing Netflix,” he said. “But what you don’t want to do is undervalue the content”

Bewkes also showed no concern about other big tech players, such as Steve Jobs' Apple. If they tried to interfere with content companies' subscriptions, "it wouldn’t be good,” Bewkes warned. “But it’s not going to happen." After all, a tech company that doesn't support the company's popular content only "will degrade the value of their product.”

Asked about his personal media consumption, Bewkes said he reads the major newspapers - whether in paper or tablet form. And he likes to watch all news channels to see how they each cover key news items. Plus, "I watch a little Family Guy" because of his 13 year-old son, and the show is "pretty funny," although he wonders whether a 13-year old should watch that kind of show, Bewkes shared.

The TW CEO also once again signalled that the first half of 2011 will bring the launch of premium VOD films at price points of$20-plus. Asked whether a $50 price could make sense, he said that "seems high."

Discussing CNN, Bewkes said the main challenges is that "we have to do a better job at programming the news" and making it more accessible, understandable and interesting. He reiterated a point his team has often made that CNN attracts more viewers, but ratings overall are lower that those of Fox News, because busy people get news and leave quickly. "Or we bore the hell out of them," he quipped. "We are trying to fix that."

Time Warner Creates UK Advertising "Council" For Media Units

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. media giant Time Warner Inc. Tuesday announced plans to set up a "council", to make it easier for advertisers to negotiate with all its U.K. media properties.

Time Warner's U.K. media businesses include AOL U.K., IPC Media, the U.K.'s largest consumer magazines publisher, Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros.

The company said the U.K. council would mirror an earlier system in operation in the U.S., with clients including Unilever and Mercedes.

The Time Warner U.K. Advertising Council includes Michael Steckler, managing director of AOL U.K., Caroline McDevitt, managing director of IPC Advertising, and Simon Cox, vice president of Turner Media Innovations.

The council will meet on a monthly basis, Time Warner said, to consider ideas and proposals.

Google's Market Value Surpasses Media Giants

Google's stock price on Monday passed $600 for the first time, giving the company a market cap greater than the three biggest traditional media companies -- Time Warner, Disney and News Corp. -- combined.

Wallpaper* Founder Eyes Growth for New Title

Wallpaper* magazine founder Tyler Brule is at the sixth-month point of publishing a Monocle, a high-end, glossy newsmagazine focusing on "global affairs, business, culture & design." The London-based title is now opening its fourth bureau in Sydney, joining New York, Tokyo and Zurich.


The New York Observer writes that in the opinion of Tyler Brûlé, the ever-stylish Wallpaper* founder, the suits are looking at today’s media landscape completely backwards.

These days, he said, news executives and big-time publishers are foolishly closing foreign bureaus, cutting trim size, reducing paper stock, overdoing local news and swapping editorial authority for user-generated content.

“We’re not in the business of trying to build a galaxy of bloggers and churn out copy all day,” said Mr. Brûlé, who earlier this year launched Monocle, a high-end newsmagazine.

While Time redesigns, refashions and rethinks its business model—and crowns “You” person of the year—Mr. Brûlé is now at the sixth-month point of publishing a glossy 225-plus-page “briefing on global affairs, business, culture & design” stuffed with original photography and a “manga” comic book.

And as major newspapers like The Boston Globe shutter their foreign bureaus this year, Mr. Brûlé sees opportunity: next week, he said, Sydney will open as the London-based Monocle’s fourth bureau, joining New York, Tokyo and Zurich.

Mr. Brûlé, now 38, said that for years he’s considered launching a newsmagazine in the tradition of the “confident, robust newsstand weekly” he found in Germany, packed with “60 pages of foreign reportage.” In 1994, while freelancing for one such German magazine, Mr. Brûlé was struck by a sniper’s bullet in Afghanistan.

But the idea for Wallpaper* was also percolating during his recovery in London, and that’s the one that took off first, in 1996—clearing a market for aspirational cosmopolitans (yuppie-porn, to some). The category has skyrocketed since, with upscale shelter mags clogging the magazine racks at Barnes & Noble.

The following year, Mr. Brûlé sold the magazine to Time Inc. for $1.63 million, and founded a design agency, Wink Media (later Winkreative), in 1998. Mr. Brûlé remained editorial director until 2002, before leaving amid gossip about private jet expenses and disagreements with corporate higher-ups.

Before leaving Wallpaper*, Mr. Brûlé was already quoted in the press about his desire to launch a newsmagazine.

“That didn’t make them very happy at Time Inc,” Mr. Brûlé said, laughing. “Norman Pearlstine got so angry at me. I remember being screamed at on the phone in Hamburg.”

ESPNU Scores More Fans, Via Time Warner Deal

ESPNU, the 2-year-old network launched in response to College Sports Television (CSTV), will double its distribution this month, thanks to a sprawling deal between parent company Disney and Time Warner Cable.

TWC will make the channel available on its digital basic tier to 10 million of its subscribers by Sept. 1, taking ESPNU's availability to 20 million homes in time for football season, when it promises 70 games.

The rollout includes homes in New York by Aug. 30 and Los Angeles by Aug. 31.

ESPNU also stands to gain TWC subscribers quickly, since its deal gives it promised distribution to all TWC customers with digital basic--and more customers from a lower basic tier are upgrading. So far, 68% of TWC's 14.6 million customers have digital basic.

ESPNU's distribution bump is an outgrowth of a broader deal with Disney that gave TWC the rights to carry its owned-and-operated ABC stations and other benefits, such as providing a Disney Channel subscription VOD offering. In exchange, Disney received promises for distribution for a slew of cable channels, including ESPNU. The deal also included a renegotiation of the sub fees TWC would pay Disney for carriage of ESPN and ESPN2.

ESPNU launched in some 3 million homes in 2005.

Where do media moguls go...?

As the media business goes through a generational shift, several former industry titans appear to be seeking a compass for their lives.

WHEN Michael D. Eisner left the Walt Disney Company after a shareholder revolt in 2005, the former chief executive was forced to rethink his life. Where once he had commanded a private plane to fly around the world, last year he pedaled around Italy on a bicycle. Instead of wielding the power to back the next “Pirates of the Caribbean,” today Mr. Eisner is financing a modest Web video series called “Prom Queen,” e-mailing his friends to remind them to watch.

While Viacom boss Tom Freston admits: "I'm trying to figure out what to do." Ex-Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin says: "I'm going to find myself."

New York Times has more.

Curious about what Media Bosses Earn...?

Data for publicly held companies reveals the fiscal 2006 compensation for media chieftains Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger, Jeff Immelt and many others.

MinOnline has more.

Time Warner: Cable Ads Can Compete with Web Ads

The cable industry can compete successfully with online companies like Google for advertising dollars by launching on-demand networks supported by interactive advertising, says Time Warner president Jeff Bewkes. "Why would [this] not be the next great future of advertising?"

Read the complete article on Reuters