TWC's Hobbs: 'Triple-Play' Bolsters Subs
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Anthony Crupi[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DECEMBER 06, 2005 -
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Time Warner Cable serves up video to some 10.9 million U.S. subscribers, but lately it's the operator's telephone offering that has customers--and Wall Street--buzzing.
Speaking at the CS First Boston media week conference Tuesday, Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs said that the MSO had passed the one million-subscriber mark with its new Voice over Internet Protocol service, having upped its phone customer base 567 percent year-over-year.
"There's no lack of demand for our phone service," Hobbs said with no little measure of understatement. But beyond selling subs an additional service, Hobbs said that Time Warner's triple-play bundle of voice, video and data helped bolster basic sub totals. "When a new phone subscriber comes on board, 75 percent of them join as a triple-play sub," Hobbs said, adding that the new wrinkle has helped boost basic subs by 39,000, or 286 percent year-over-year.
Hobbs added that the triple play has also helped boost Time Warner's digital sub base by 19 percent, bringing the operator's total digital penetration to 49 percent of its total footprint by the close of the third quarter of 2005.
Beyond the continuing success the company is having with video on demand --VOD streams are up 24 percent over the third quarter of 2004, as 50 percent of all digital subs are accessing on-demand programming. Hobbs also talked up the MSO's new Start Over feature, which allows digital subs to rewind live programming to the beginning of the presentation, and its ongoing experimentation with interactive TV applications. Launched in Time Warner's Columbia, S.C., system on Nov. 1, Start Over rolls out wide next year.
Also on tap for 2006 is the close of the acquisition of Adelphia's systems, a joint buy with top U.S. operator Comcast. The Adelphia deal will add 3.5 million basic subs to Time Warner's roster and 7.5 million additional homes passed.
Hobbs addressed the particulars of the company's recent deal with Sprint Nextel, which will provide subs with a fourth bundled option in wireless phone service. The real laser focus will be to "expand the third screen," Hobbs said, adding that the value of the Sprint pact is tied in with the MSO's ability to offer video across a host of alternative platforms, including wireless phones and PDAs. Subs will also be able to program their digital video recorders remotely via their wireless devices sometime in late 2006, Hobbs added.
Basic cellular service launches in mid-2006.
Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen noted that the Sprint deal will also allow Time Warner to offer those additional broadband services "at a much lower cost basis than acquiring and building out on its own." Reif Cohen added that Sprint owns more wireless spectrum than any other operator.
In a question-and-answer session following his presentation, Hobbs picked up the football from Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, who on Monday at the UBS conference across town, took a shot at Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan for his contrary stance on a la carte. Britt said a la carte pricing was a bad idea, adding that while the cable industry "needs to come together and find a resolution [to the indecency issue], a la carte is economically a very bad thing for the industry." Britt also suggested that Dolan's enthusiasm for the pricing model likely would be strained by the adverse affects it might have on Cablevision's Rainbow programming networks.
For his part, Hobbs said that while the indecency question remains "an important issue on both sides of the aisle," legislating content by forcing it into the a la carte model "makes no economic sense."
"Customers will pay more for less choice," Hobbs said, reiterating Britt's contention that as a result, "a lot of niche networks would disappear."
Hobbs added that Time Warner's built-in parental controls are "particularly strong," although recent studies have suggested that even in markets where cable operators aggressively pitch the parental controls options, very few subscribers actually bother locking out channels.
Hobbs was appointed COO on August 1, 2005, after serving as Time Warner Cable's CFO for over four years.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Anthony Crupi[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DECEMBER 06, 2005 -
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Time Warner Cable serves up video to some 10.9 million U.S. subscribers, but lately it's the operator's telephone offering that has customers--and Wall Street--buzzing.
Speaking at the CS First Boston media week conference Tuesday, Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs said that the MSO had passed the one million-subscriber mark with its new Voice over Internet Protocol service, having upped its phone customer base 567 percent year-over-year.
"There's no lack of demand for our phone service," Hobbs said with no little measure of understatement. But beyond selling subs an additional service, Hobbs said that Time Warner's triple-play bundle of voice, video and data helped bolster basic sub totals. "When a new phone subscriber comes on board, 75 percent of them join as a triple-play sub," Hobbs said, adding that the new wrinkle has helped boost basic subs by 39,000, or 286 percent year-over-year.
Hobbs added that the triple play has also helped boost Time Warner's digital sub base by 19 percent, bringing the operator's total digital penetration to 49 percent of its total footprint by the close of the third quarter of 2005.
Beyond the continuing success the company is having with video on demand --VOD streams are up 24 percent over the third quarter of 2004, as 50 percent of all digital subs are accessing on-demand programming. Hobbs also talked up the MSO's new Start Over feature, which allows digital subs to rewind live programming to the beginning of the presentation, and its ongoing experimentation with interactive TV applications. Launched in Time Warner's Columbia, S.C., system on Nov. 1, Start Over rolls out wide next year.
Also on tap for 2006 is the close of the acquisition of Adelphia's systems, a joint buy with top U.S. operator Comcast. The Adelphia deal will add 3.5 million basic subs to Time Warner's roster and 7.5 million additional homes passed.
Hobbs addressed the particulars of the company's recent deal with Sprint Nextel, which will provide subs with a fourth bundled option in wireless phone service. The real laser focus will be to "expand the third screen," Hobbs said, adding that the value of the Sprint pact is tied in with the MSO's ability to offer video across a host of alternative platforms, including wireless phones and PDAs. Subs will also be able to program their digital video recorders remotely via their wireless devices sometime in late 2006, Hobbs added.
Basic cellular service launches in mid-2006.
Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen noted that the Sprint deal will also allow Time Warner to offer those additional broadband services "at a much lower cost basis than acquiring and building out on its own." Reif Cohen added that Sprint owns more wireless spectrum than any other operator.
In a question-and-answer session following his presentation, Hobbs picked up the football from Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt, who on Monday at the UBS conference across town, took a shot at Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan for his contrary stance on a la carte. Britt said a la carte pricing was a bad idea, adding that while the cable industry "needs to come together and find a resolution [to the indecency issue], a la carte is economically a very bad thing for the industry." Britt also suggested that Dolan's enthusiasm for the pricing model likely would be strained by the adverse affects it might have on Cablevision's Rainbow programming networks.
For his part, Hobbs said that while the indecency question remains "an important issue on both sides of the aisle," legislating content by forcing it into the a la carte model "makes no economic sense."
"Customers will pay more for less choice," Hobbs said, reiterating Britt's contention that as a result, "a lot of niche networks would disappear."
Hobbs added that Time Warner's built-in parental controls are "particularly strong," although recent studies have suggested that even in markets where cable operators aggressively pitch the parental controls options, very few subscribers actually bother locking out channels.
Hobbs was appointed COO on August 1, 2005, after serving as Time Warner Cable's CFO for over four years.[/FONT]
