Time Warner Cable’s incoming CEO Rob Marcus tried to apply the brakes to the churning rumor mill that the company is up for sale, telling an investor conference in New York that management is “completely focused” on running the company “for the long haul.”

Marcus didn’t dismiss a sale outright, but said any future moves would be dictated by the best interests of the shareholders.

“Whether or not Time Warner Cable will participate in M&A as a buyer or seller is 100 percent driven by what’s in the best interest of shareholders,” he said.

The Hollywood Reporter said that people who attended Marcus’ session at the 41st annual UBS Global Media and Communications Summit “went away feeling a deal could still happen soon if the price was right.”

Marcus also told the crowd that Time Warner is “open” to putting streaming service Netflix on its set-top boxes, but thinks that the company offers a better video service.

Time Warner’s TWC TV online video service now offers more than 300 live TV channels and 5,000 hours of VOD on five platforms.

“When TWC TV is on Roku, it’s sitting right next to Netflix,” Marcus told the conference, adding that TWC customers who want to find Netflix already have a variety of ways to access the streaming service without the cable company giving them another one.

Read More: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety

Brief Take: By not completely quashing the sale rumors, Marcus all but confirmed the option remains on the table. And the talk about Netflix shows that cable execs see some value in offering the service, but aren’t rushing out to do so just yet.

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