TWC Plans to Bring IP Video to Game Consoles, Some TV Sets in 2012
Time Warner Cable executives said they will begin offering live and VOD IPTV programming to game consoles, computers and some Internet-connected TV sets this year. The company is already delivering some video to the iPad through its TWC TV app, and those live TV features should also be available soon for devices running the new Android 4.0 operating system, Chief Operating Officer Robert Marcus said on the cable operator’s Q4 earnings call Thursday.
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But TWC doesn’t have plans to integrate online video services into its existing set-top boxes “anytime soon,” CEO Glenn Britt said: “With our big base of legacy set-tops, they don’t have that capability.” But he reiterated that TWC plans to deliver its video services to the growing number of boxes that consumers are buying.
TWC’s video subscription numbers haven’t suffered as a result of the growing consumer online video use, Britt said. With the average TV on for about 8 hours a day, online video use isn’t a threat, he said. “There are a lot of people who don’t watch very much TV, and we all know a lot of those people,” he said in response to a question about subscribers canceling cable in favor of services such as Netflix. “I think that affects our perception of what’s really going on in terms of the mass market."
TWC took a $60 million write down in Q4 on its assets related to its deals with Sprint and Clearwire to sell wireless service, the company said. The move was a result of TWC’s deal to begin marketing its products together with Verizon Wireless, the company said. TWC executives provided few new details on that partnership but said they expect to begin marketing those products together soon. It’s hard to peg when the government will approve the sale of SpectrumCo’s AWS licenses to Verizon Wireless, Marcus said. “Verizon said earlier this week something like mid-year,” he said. “That’s as good a guess as any, but we don’t have a specific date."
Excluding TWC’s recent cable system acquisition from NewWave Communications, the company lost 129,000 basic video subscribers, ending the year with 11.9 million, it said. It added 117,000 broadband customers and 37,000 phone customers during the quarter leaving it with 9.9 million and 4.5 million customers for those products respectively, it said.
Total sales gained 4 percent from a year earlier to $4.99 billion as gains in its residential and business services revenue offset ad sales declines. Net income gained 49.9 percent to $564 million on higher sales. Separately, the company said it will buy back up to $4 billion worth of shares and increased its quarterly dividend by 17 percent to 56 cents a share. Shares gained 7.8 percent Thursday, closing up $5.40 at 74.51.