Printed from  Time Warner exec joins chorus against 99-cent TV
rentals  updated 09:50 am EDT, Wed September 29, 2010  Claims
idea jeopardizes syndication sales  Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes
has joined others in the TV industry in criticizing 99-cent TV
show rentals and purchases from Apple and Amazon. The executive
recently spoke at the Royal Television Conference in London.
"How can you justify renting your first-run TV shows
individually for 99 cents an episode," he said, "and thereby
jeopardize the sale of the same shows as a series to branded
networks that pay hundreds of millions of dollars and make those
shows available to loyal viewers for free?"  "These new entrants
must meet a few criteria," Bewkes added. "They must provide
consumers with a superior TV experience, and they must either
support or improve the overall economics that funds and creates
the programming in the first place." Some in the industry have
worried that setting prices too low could make it difficult to
fund TV shows, which can cost