HBO Plans to Offer Stand Alone Service in 2015

[dgstorm]

This is definitely off topic news, but it's so worthy of a "happy dance" that we just had to share it! HBO just announced their plans to offer stand alone service in 2015! Yes... that means that TV cable-cutters who only use broadband for internet and Netflix and/or Amazon Prime will now be able to get their Game of Thrones (and various other amazing HBO shows) fix too!

Their new stand alone service will include HBO Go as well. It doesn't get much better than this for people who can't stand cable TV, but enjoy HBO's programming. Here's a quote from the HBO press release,

Speaking at the Time Warner Inc. Investor Meeting today, Richard Plepler, chairman and CEO, HBO, announced that the company will offer a stand-alone HBO streaming service in 2015. Following a portion of his presentation focused on HBO’s domestic business, during which he cited significant growth opportunities inside the pay-TV universe, Plepler then turned to the current ten million broadband-only homes, which is projected to grow.

Plepler then added:

“That is a large and growing opportunity that should no longer be left untapped. It is time to remove all barriers to those who want HBO.

“So, in 2015, we will launch a stand-alone, over-the-top, HBO service in the United States. We will work with our current partners. And, we will explore models with new partners. 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.”

 

[FoxKat]

Yay! This is a big move forward to the goal of being free to choose the right channel for your needs and to not have to be forced to pay for a bunch of stuff that you don't want! Cable cafeteria service for tv is the future.

 

[shockracer]

I use HBO Go on all my chromecasts, it is great! It will be awesome if those of us that have cut the cable cord will be able to choose only the networks we want.