AOL merger was 'the biggest mistake in corporate history', believes Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph after a speech at the Royal Television Society's International conference, Mr Bewkes said he had learned post-demerger that "the recipe for success" of any company is "you have to know what you are".

In 2001, AOL completed its $164bn (£104bn) acquisition of Time Warner, but it soon led to monumental write-downs. However, Time Warner soon realised that the merger was not in its best interests, leading to a loss of $99bn in 2002. A demerger agreement came last year.

Mr Bewkes added: "The whole the idea of [the merger with AOL] was misguided in the first place… Everyone needs to think carefully about what their function is in the modern world and the value of the activity that you and your company are doing.

"It is the legitimacy of any business enterprise that, in order to deserve business and financial support, you should be doing something valuable and legitimate and not something else."

In his keynote speech at the conference, Mr Bewkes described TV as having entered a "second golden age" and was the "father of digital". While he said he welcomed the help that technology brands such as Apple and Google could provide, he believes they should know their role as technology companies and not content creators.

Mr Bewkes also said that 3D technology would be "transformational" for television but cautioned that network infrastructure and speeds need to be improved so 3D can be delivered via broadband.