How Many Video Sharing Sites Does Time Warner Need?

from the six,-apparently dept

Tue, Aug 1st 2006 11:45am — Joseph Weisenthal

Earlier this week, in commenting on Time Warner's new push into online video we said that if efforts weren't coordinated across its different brands then the company was even more screwed up than we thought. Well, Om Malik has a good rundown of the different plans, and it looks far worse than we could have imagined. All told the company has investments in or partnerships with six different online video firms, with both AOL and CNN using different services. Even Sports Illustrated has its own video plans that are separate from the rest of the company. It seems that after all these years since its disastrous merger, the company is no closer to unifying or leveraging its different brands. One of the few advantages a large integrated company has is the ability to achieve economies of scale. GE, for instance, can negotiate discounts with parts suppliers that its divisions couldn't do on its own. A media company, like Time Warner, should take advantage of network effects by having its properties and brands work together -- otherwise it might as well break up and let each division compete for itself, unencumbered by the massive bureaucracy that comes with such a big company.

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5 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2006 @ 11:55am

Much better angle
This article so much more on point than the one from "earlier this week" that insulted itself by complaining about too much competition in a free market.
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Rebulican Gun, 1 Aug 2006 @ 12:22pm

How many?
Two.
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Wire Cramped, 1 Aug 2006 @ 1:13pm

wait a second...
Isnt Time Warner in a battle on the side of the RIAA? Arent they part of hunting down people for doing internet based media content?

Now is there some sort of conflict in interest here? I mean do they own any portion of any company that does something that they would sue over?

Makes me want to dig into that bloated ass company a little deeper!
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Obvious to me, 1 Aug 2006 @ 3:16pm

Split up for a reason?
Seems to me that keeping all of these companies seperate but under one control allows Time Warner to control as much media as they can without those pesky anti-trust laws to worry about.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 May 2007 @ 6:18am

Re: Split up for a reason?
Got it in one. Conformity would be a sign of anti-trust violations to come. With each part of Time Warner acting separately they can avoid anti-trust laws and get their hands in as many media cookie jars as possible
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