Time Warner ups binge content to take on Netflix


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Michelle Clancy

| 13 January 2016




Time Warner Inc is doubling down on its binge-ready content.



According to Time Warner CFO Howard Averill, the media giant is making a strategic shift to “provide the consumer what they’re looking for” by making full seasons of more shows available on demand.

Sources told Bloomberg that the move is a direct effort to lure binge watchers away from Netflix. The company is telling studios that its cable networks like TNT and TBS want to be able to air full seasons of the shows that it buys.

Time Warner has been calling out Netflix for months, saying in November that it was considering delaying the release of its shows to Netflix beyond the one-year mark. In addition to the windowing change, it said that it may make more of its older episodes available on-demand to pay-TV customers.

Last week, Time Warner announced that it was extending Jeff Bewkes’ term as chairman and CEO through 2020, citing the development and execution of “the right long-term strategy for our company in a challenging media landscape”.