Time Warner Cable Starts Music Subscription Service

By Meg Tirrell

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Time Warner Cable Inc. began selling music to customers of its Road Runner Internet-access service, stepping up competition with Apple Inc.'s iTunes online store.

Road Runner subscribers can pay $9.95 a month for unlimited access to 3 million songs, ad-free radio and music videos, New York-based Time Warner Cable, the second-largest U.S. cable service, said today in a statement.

Time Warner Cable is jumping into an industry dominated by Apple. In 2006, iTunes sold 70 percent of tracks that were downloaded to computers, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. in Port Washington, New York. The new service isn't compatible with Apple's iPod devices, said Ann Garrett, spokeswoman for MediaNet Digital, the company providing the technology.

User fees will cover the costs of royalties paid to record labels, Garrett said. ``This is on all ends a for-profit business,'' she said.

Time Warner Cable, a unit of New York-based Time Warner Inc., gained 17 cents to $33.41 at 4:05 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Its shares have lost 19 percent this year.

MediaNet, operator of the MusicNet music subscription service, is owned by New York private equity firm Baker Capital. It is working with technology partner Synacor Inc. in Buffalo, New York.


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