At the Forbes conference in Beverly Hills, Barry Diller called network TV "temporarily prehistoric" and added that he hadn't been interested in the business for about a decade.

As media execs from across the country unbuttoned their collars to let some air in, Diller added praise for Time Warner and its ventures in TMZ.com, and News Corp. for its purchase of MySpace and other interactive ventures.

Diller said media companies don't understand the value of research and development like technology companies do, according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter.

Diller used Amazon.com as an example for media execs who are fearful of losing stock value by spending money on experimentation.

Media companies should be building new ideas from scratch, he said.