Time Warner Cable CEO: Web TV only makes cable more vital

Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Rob Marcus said the emergence of Internet-based television may compete with cable companies' video product but it goes to show how important cable companies have been to broadband connectivity.

"Over-the-top video is one of the things that highlights the value of high-speed connection," Marcus said, speaking at the Cable Show conference in Los Angeles. It creates the potential for competition on the video side, but "there's a whole lot out there that makes our offering more valuable."

Cable companies have long been on a trend of bleeding video subscribers, attributed to ever-rising bill prices and to a lesser extent the emergence of online television alternatives like Netflix, even as broadband subscription business has grown.

Time Warner Cable's proposed $45.2 billion merger with Comcast, which would combine the No. 1 and No. 2 cable operators in the country, has raised competitive worries among consumer advocates less so for the concentration of video distribution it would create than for the consolidation of so much high-speed broadband delivery in one corporation.