HBO to launch a stand-alone online service next year

Cord-cutters across the United States rejoiced on Wednesday after HBO’s chief executive Richard Plepler announced that the premium television network will be launching a stand-alone online service sometime in 2015. This means that users will no longer be required to have an active cable subscription in order to access HBO GO, the network’s online streaming service.

This move will undoubtedly create a dramatic shift in the television industry, which has made most of its money by forcing ever-growing bundles of channels on consumers, the vast majority of which will only be watching a handful of those channels, despite the fact that they’re paying for hundreds upon hundreds of channels.

HBO is easily one of the most valuable channels in cable and satellite packages thanks to its premium, uncensored original content, boasting numerous award-winning shows such as Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, The Wire, True Detective, and many more.

However, the firm has long held the belief that its cable and satellite distribution partners haven’t given HBO a big enough cut of the industry’s highly profitable paid television subscriptions. The company has also started to face growing competition from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, and other digital entertainment platforms.

“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 Time Warner’s Investor Day meeting in New York City. “And international opportunities can be just as large, if not larger. We will use all means at our disposal to go after it.”

While Plepler didn’t provide any details on HBO’s digital plans, he did say that the firm will begin selling a stand-alone service in the United States and two other countries first, but will expand to all of the countries that it currently serves eventually.

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