HBO To De-Bundle, Go Online?

HBO is reported to be considering stepping outside of existing cable packages and offering itself as a stand-alone service in order to raise its current subscriber base – and if that doesn’t work, it just might abandon television altogether. The surprise news came from Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, who told an audience at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference that the channel would consider being sold solo through cable/satellite providers and “new distributors” if he felt that the channel was being “overly hindered” by highly-priced bundles of channels.

According to the New York Post, the channel may also consider cutting the cord with television altogether, dependent on the success of various HBO online plans, such as HBO Go, which allows those already subscribing to the channel to watch content online, and a planned iPad app to be launched next year. No timeframes were given for either initiative, however.

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charlieromeobravo

We were HBO subscribers for years but dropped it about two years ago (after the Sopranos went off the air and the rest of the original programming started to suck) to save some money. We didn’t miss it but Comcast lured me back in with 3 free months of HBO. The original programming is VERY good again but I’ll probably drop it again. With digital basic cable and internet our cable bill is still ridiculous and I don’t like HBO enough to want to increase it another $15 a month. So, HBO executives, in my house you’re very much victims of bundling prices. What are you going to do about it? :)
jamiebriant

We are a no-cable-tv house. (In a sign of how rediculous it is, we actually pay for cable tv that isn’t hooked up to anything because it makes our internet cheaper). I would probably pay $5/mo directly to HBO for HBO channels. Right now we just watch netflix.

Message to HBO: you better have a player for the Wii and the iPad otherwise you wont get watched in our house.
anubus

1) needs to be available on multiple devices
2) needs to be a hell of a lot cheaper then their cable subscription.(5-8$/mo)
3)?????
4)PROFIT!