In an interview with Reuters, HBO CEO Richard Plepler said that HBO GO, the company’s streaming service, could be packaged with internet service from broadband providers to make the service available to a rising audience of cord-cutters.
Currently, HBO and HBO GO are only available to consumers with a cable subscription, who must then pay an additional fee for the channel. The current business model is lucrative for HBO, which receives large subscription fees from cable providers. If HBO were to attempt to bypass cable providers and make HBO GO available as a stand-alone streaming service akin to Netflix or Hulu, the company would likely ruin its relationship with said providers. Bundling HBO GO with internet service may still allow the company to maintain these relationships, as many internet service providers also offer cable.
