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UBS could've hosted the event of the year of it was able to get Time Warner chmn/CEO Jeff Bewkes and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to sit down together Tues, but not surprisingly both execs were entertaining in separate interviews anyway. As Bewkes said, TWX has "been quite loud-mouthed" about TV Everywhere and the imperative move of programmers to alternative platforms, and the company's actions in recent months with HBO Go and other digital offerings arguably has it now playing successfully on Netflix's field. Yet while Bewkes toned down his anti-NFLX comments from a year ago and even said the subscription service is "our friend," this time Hastings was the one to ramp the swagger. "HBO Go is becoming more Netflix-like, and we're becoming more HBO-like... the two of us will compete for a very long time," said Hastings. "We'll always be better on the Internet, and we'll catch up in originals." Hastings did, however, intimate that Bewkes' online maneuverings mark good business, and feels HBO Go will eventually define what HBO is as a network because online "is so much better than the VOD system." Bewkes indirectly agreed, saying "the definition of TV today is what HBO is... we're trying to take TV and put in on every device." Viewership of HBO rises by 30-50% when subs use HBO Go, said Bewkes, and by the end of the month, Turner's TV Everywhere offerings are expected to be available in approx 80% of US homes. In short, said Hastings, there's HBO and NFLX, and then everyone else. Starting next year, NFLX will up its programming spend to HBO-like levels of $1-2bln annually, and in '13 will begin doling out up to 15% of its overall spend for originals. Moreover, Hastings said NFLX will offer in both 1Q and 2Q twice the programming it did the prior year. He dismissed the current threats posed of competitors including Amazon and Verizon, which Reuters reported Tues plans to intro a streaming video service next year to rival NFLX in non-FiOS markets. Despite the exploding growth of online content and viewership--HBO Go has delivered approx 98mln video streams to date, and NFLX will stream more than 1bln hours this quarter--Bewkes and Hastings both backed the traditional MVPD business. While Hastings said NFLX is complementary to cable et al, Bewkes said "pay TV is quite healthy" and that any drop off in subscriptions is a result of economic woes instead of "some kind of distribution change."