HBO wants to cut the cord to cable. Starting next year, you will be able to subscribe to HBO just like you do with Netflix. Not many details have been announced about the stand-alone HBO service, but it will be available in the US and overseas later.
HBO to challenge Netflix
It was inevitable, but with HBO’s strong ties to the cable TV industry some had feared that HBO would drag its feet for many more years. But HBO has now confirmed that a “standalone, over-the-top” service is coming in 2015.
It will launch in the US initially and will launch in other countries later. HBO already has a stand-alone service in the four Nordic countries, but the company has been unable to challenge Netflix, mostly because of its weak technical implementations and poor platform support.
- "This will be transformative for our company," HBO CEO Richard Plepler said, and continued "All in, there are 80 million homes that do not have HBO and we will use all means at our disposal to go after them,"
No details have been announced, but one report from The Information says that the monthly price could be as high as $15, which is significantly more expensive than Netflix. HBO is generally considered to have better original content, but Netflix is gaining ground with its own originals and more than 53 million subscribers.
Can HBO succeed in the internet age? Guess we will just have to wait until 2015 to find out.
