• by Wayne Friedman , March 1, 2012

Don't except Time Warner Cable to start up a Netflix-like Internet-based video-on-demand service anytime soon.

Speaking at a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco, Glenn Britt, chairman and chief executive officer of Time Warner Cable, called it "pretty daunting. The price of making those [program] deals as a new entrant is not for the faint of heart. It's really quite expensive."

Britt doesn't believe it serves regular TV consumers -- or new companies that want to get involved. "It's not a very efficient way of transmitting TV." Cable, satellite, and telco video operators operations are hard enough -- in dealing for rights for over 300 networks. "It's very complicated," he says.

Right now, Britt believes consumers mostly believe in the "notion that most TV viewing is passive." They want to watch TV in the moment. "They want choices, and they will pay for it."

Sports programming is a part of the growing package -- and those negotiations worry Britt. "We have these very large companies of [TV] networks. Each of them have negotiation leverage. And sports is a big part of it. Clearly it is not sustainable in the long run."

Looking forward, Time Warner Cable believes broadband will continue to be a big part of its growth plans. Britt says there are still some 17 million homes in its footprint that are not Time Warner customers. He claims Time Warner broadband provides better services than its competitors.