Remember that olive branch Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes waved alluringly at Netflix last month at the Tribeca Film Festival? Bewkes, during a Q&A session, said he had a "fondness" for the service because it was, after all, "subscription television." He also said Netflix's foray into original television was welcome.
Well, turns out he may not really be all that fond of the ground Netflix is gaining (it's now the biggest video subscription service in the U.S.). And, during a media panel during the Jeffries Global Technology, Internet, Media and Telecom Conference this week, Bewkes made it clear that his HBO subsidiary would not be climbing into bed with Netflix anytime soon; it's unlikely Netflix will be able to make a deal with HBO for its older content... regardless of how old it is.
Bewkes said a licensing deal between the two would be no different than CBS licensing shows to NBC or Time Warner licensing programming to Showtime Network.
"We don't understand the question," Bewkes quipped.
For more:
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HBO: Netflix would have to charge $20 to stream our content. Yawn ...