Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

CEO Jeff Bewkes plans to boost Time Warner’s stock by splitting up AOL, possibly reducing cable holdings, and cutting 100 corporate jobs and other expenses. Six months from now, says Porter Bibb of Mediatech Capital, Time Warner “is likely not to be the world’s largest media company.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=abI.vTCUwAtE  2/6)

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, in a memo sent to employees: “As we all know, the media industry is changing faster than ever. We must stay ahead of the curve, which means moving quickly. We also must manage our costs effectively to … ensure that we have a lean organization.” (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120234843822049385.html  2/7)

CEO Jeff Bewkes says that Time Warner is considering selling its 84% stake in Time Warner Cable to shareholders. Fund manager Michael Chren reports that Time Warner Cable — as a private entity — could make a bid for Cablevision. Time Warner has no comment on the oft-rumored deal. (http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzleft0207,0,897715.story  2/6)

Former HBO chief and current Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said that although the company’s cable channels had made inroads with video-on-demand services, much more needed to be done. “We and others in the industry need to be a bit more revolutionary than evolutionary in this area,” he said. “It’s a win-win for consumers and networks alike. We’re going to be aggressive in putting our own networks on demand so we can show the industry the benefits of this model.” (Multichannel News 2/6)

Far outpacing their performance in the last presidential election cycle, cable news networks attracted big crowds on Super Tuesday. CNN, which averaged 3.64 million viewers during prime time, was followed by Fox News Channel with 3.49 million and MSNBC with 2.11 million, according to Nielsen. (Broadcasting & Cable 2/6)