Time Warner “not satisfied” with CNN’s numbers
August 2, 2012
By Chris Forrester
Time Warner’s CEO Jeff Bewkes told analysts that the media conglomerate was unhappy with its broadcasting division’s numbers, which saw ad-revenues grow by only 2 per cent and thus barely keeping pace with inflation.
However, his toughest comments came for CNN which last week saw its president/CEO Jim Walton announce his retirement from the news channel. Bewkes told analysts that while CNN’s ratings declined in part due to very difficult comparisons with last year, “to be clear, we are not satisfied with CNN’s ratings performance and we’re focused on fixing it.” He added that CNN was going to focus on putting on programming that would interest and hold an audience.
He said there was a strong demand for objective, comprehensive non-partisan coverage although also recognising partisan views as well. “But we need to do it in a very compelling, more engaging way than we’ve been doing of late.”