Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said that Apple's plans to offer 99c TV episode would challenge the sale of "first run" series to television networks worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Addressing an audience of British media executives at the Royal Television Conference in London, Bewkes said that digital "new entrants" must provide a superior experience and must either maintain the revenue model that funds television program making. Referring to new players such as Apple and Amazon in digital delivery, Bewkes warned the gathered executives of conducting deals which undersold the value of TV series.
Presumably with Time Warner saying away, fans of quality television programming like Smallville and The Vampire Diaries will be denied the chance to purchase on Apple TV and similar devices and instead will either have to sit through adverts or wait to buy some boxed DVD set.
The comments follow NBC boss Jeff Zucker saying that 99c deals "devalue our content" and other networks are known to be opposed such as Viacom (MTV and Paramount) while ABC and Fox have signed up to the deal.
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