In 2015 a standalone, over-the-top HBO Go service will launch in the the U.S, HBO Chairman and CEO Richard Plepler just confirmed, in a move that had been in the wind for some time.
There are 80 million homes that do not have HBO, and “we will use all measures to go after them,” Plepler said during his network’s portion of the Time Warner Investor Day underway in NY. He said such a move could produce hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue.
Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit - Day 2“There is huge opportunity in front of us… we will use all means at our disposal to go after it,” he said. “This is the most exciting inflection point domestically and internationally in the history of HBO.”
About 40% of HBO subscribers only watch movies. Subs still cite movies as the top reason they want the service. Theatrical is 75% of linear viewing and performs strongly across platforms.
14 of the top 25 films released so far this year will be on HBO. More than all competitors combined. Has WB, Fox and Universal into the next decade, as well as Summit. Gives us great flexibility to explore digital models.
Last month, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes signaled the idea was brewing to offer HBO Go without a TV Anywhere authentication, noting the increasing opportunity of broadband was making a direct-to-consumer HBO Go “more viable and more interesting.”
An Internet-only HBO Go offering has worked well after some hiccups in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, he said.
Bewkes said at the time there was no technological or contractual obstacle to changing the delivery scheme.
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