Bewkes

What cord-cutting?

The “other” Time Warner — the separate entertainment company no longer affiliated with Time Warner Cable, has a chief executive who regularly downplays the threat of cable customers dropping television service and switching to alternate forms of online viewing.

At a conference in New York, CEO Jeff Bewkes said cord cutters largely fell in two categories:

1. Low income households who could never afford cable and still can’t;
2. Wealthy kids who grew up without cable television, still don’t have it now that they are living on their own, but can easily afford “three Starbucks a day” and don’t mind paying just about any price for the cost of content they actually want.

Bewkes cannot understand what people are complaining about when they open their monthly cable bill. After all, he argued, the value of  cable television and broadband have gone up with larger channel packages and speed upgrades without major price hikes.

But Bewkes’ definition of “major” may differ from those in middle class households who cannot afford rate increases that far outpace inflation year after year.

For now, Time Warner signaled it intends to remain loyal to the “all-or-nothing” cable package. That makes the chance of finding their entertainment shows available a-la-carte or online on-demand without a paid subscription pretty poor.