@ Media Week: UBS Day 3: Jeff Bewkes, COO, TW

UBS had heir-apparent on the menu for lunch Wednesday: Jeff Bewkes, president and COO of Time Warner. As was with the case with CEO Dick Parsons Tuesday at CSFB, Bewkes was asked to explain address the hiring of Randy Falco. He went around the barn to open the door, as Miss Crinkely used to say in geometry class, and even then had to be nudged a little. “We wanted to take it to a higher management capability,” he said. Falco’s versatile, solid across everything. (The subtext: Dismissed AOL chief Jon Miller had a rep internally at TW for operating at times as though AOL was independent; Falco is a team player from day one.) “His new COO Ron Grant is exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable,” Bewkes added, noting that Grant came from AOL and worked closely with him for the past several years.
One number of interest: AOL has over 5 million new “free” subs since Aug. 2– roughly two million are new to the service while the other three million or so were leaving the ISP service but remained part of the network by switching to free.
On acquisitions: Bewkes said AOL would look at any acquisition — “I wouldn’t say we would buy traffic but we could” — but they’re just as focused on internal development.
On broadband channel strategy: When I asked after the session about TW”s spate of new broadband channels, Bewkes replied, “Don’t skip past VOD.” He wants viewers to know they can see shows on demand via their cable or satellite operators with broadband as another option.
On HBO”s broadband strategy: Look for the upcoming AOL-HBO comedy broadband channel to be distributed via cable partners.
— A Bewkes one-liner on movie results: “You have to ask yourself — would you make the Poseidon Adventure again?”

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