Chief executive Richard Plepler announced that the network will launch a stand-alone online service next year, allowing viewers to watch the latest series without a cable or satellite subscription, The Washington Post details.
The streaming service will likely create a dramatic shift in the number of consumers who purchase bundle television packages. Most buyers only avidly watch a fraction of channels included in the bundles.
Among those fraction of channels includes HBO, one of the most popular and valuable channels offered in the bundle packages. Between ESPN live footage and hit series Game of Thrones, it is no question that the online shift will attract viewers.
The growing popularity of instant-play online platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video, have put pressure on HBO to keep up its success.
“In 2015, we will be beyond the wall and launch a stand-alone over-the-top service that will have the potential to produce hundreds of millions of dollars of additional revenues,” Plepler said at parent company Time Warner’s Investor Day meeting in New York. “And international opportunities can be just as large, if not larger. We will use all means at our disposal to go after it.”
While the details surrounding the stand-alone streaming service are still unclear, it has been confirmed that the service will first be released in the US and two other countries before opening up to other geographic locations the network serves.
HBO brought in $4.9 billion in revenue last year. The pricing for the stand-alone streaming service has yet to be announced.