http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/business/media/time-warner-chief-to-brief-investors-on-plans-for-growth.html 2014-10-15 13:36:21 Time Warner Chief to Brief Investors on Plans for Growth After rejecting a $80 billion takeover from 21st Century Fox, Jeffrey L. Bewkes is expected to make his case that Time Warner is better off alone. === Three months after Analysts expect that strategy to involve a combination of increasing original programming, exploiting digital business opportunities, expanding internationally and cutting costs across Time Warner’s television and film properties, which include the The stakes are high. Time Warner now stands alone as a pure entertainment group after Mr. Bewkes shed the conglomerate’s cable, Internet and magazine businesses in recent years. Pending consolidation among cable and satellite companies raises questions about whether Time Warner has the scale it needs to compete on its own. At the same time, huge changes in how people watch television and movies are cutting into audiences, upending traditional business models and putting pressure on Time Warner’s networks. “Bewkes has been focused on simplifying the business,” said Kannan Venkateshwar, a media analyst with Barclays. “But given the new ecosystem, is it time to start looking at something different and step out of the comfort zone?” HBO is expected to be a major area of focus. Analysts say they are looking for answers on how the cable network could make more money on domestic subscribers. Questions also loom about the global prospects for the network and whether HBO will create a new streaming service that would not require subscribers to pay for traditional cable or satellite television. Another concern is Turner, the home to CNN, TBS and TNT. The group of cable networks has faced ratings declines, and Turner has said it would expand its original programming in response. Live sports is another priority, as the games typically draw high ratings and lucrative fees from cable and satellite TV providers. Some analysts have raised questions, however, about how the networks will stand out against the proliferation of original programming across television and digital networks today. Time Warner also is likely to face questions about its plans to shore up an anemic slate at its Warner Bros. film studio group. Investors are likely to be looking for other ways that the group could make more money as well, perhaps by exploiting its library of TV and film content or through digital streaming. Cost-cutting initiatives are already underway across Time Warner. Last week, the Turner Group announced that it was Shares in Time Warner are now trading at about $72, the same level as before Fox’s offer became public in July. After news broke about the deal, which valued the company at $85 a share, shares in Time Warner jumped to to about $87. At the time, analysts expected that a deal was likely to go through if Fox increased its offer to about $100, but Time Warner’s management and board thought that they could reach that target on their own in a year and a half. Whether or not Time Warner management is able to convince investors with their pitch could determine whether the company will once again will find itself prey to a new bid by Fox or another group, analysts said. Todd Juenger, an analyst with Bernstein Research, said in a recent report that investors should do well either way. “If the growth plan is well received and executed, the stock should outperform,” he said. “If it’s not, then ultimately we believe Fox or someone else will come back (to a much more receptive Time Warner board) and investors will ultimately be rewarded as well.”