Slashdot Mirror
AT&T Wants To Overhaul HBO, Says It Isn't Profitable Enough (arstechnica.com)
AT&T recently acquired HBO, as part of the Time Warner acquisition, "and it is already considering an overhaul that would see HBO produce more video that can compete for the attention of smartphone users," reports Ars Technica. "AT&T wants to boost revenue both in advertising and subscriptions, even if that means upending HBO's longtime strategy of producing a relatively small number of high-quality shows."
At a recent corporate town hall meeting, John Stankey, the longtime AT&T executive and new head of Warner Media, laid out the challenges and opportunities he saw for the network to around 150 employees. He said, in part: "It's going to be a tough year. It's going to be a lot of work to alter and change direction a little bit. [...] You will work very hard, and this next year will -- my wife hates it when I say this -- feel like childbirth... You'll look back on it and be very fond of it, but it's not going to feel great while you're in the middle of it. She says, 'What do you know about this?' I just observe, 'Honey. We love our kids.'" Audio of the meeting was obtained by The New York Times. From the report: The talk, held at HBO headquarters in New York City, was hosted by HBO CEO Richard Plepler. HBO must compete with smartphones for people's attention, Stankey said in this exchange with Plepler: "We need hours a day," Mr. Stankey said, referring to the time viewers spend watching HBO programs. "It's not hours a week, and it's not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in people's hands that capture their attention every 15 minutes." Continuing the theme, he added: "I want more hours of engagement. Why are more hours of engagement important? Because you get more data and information about a customer that then allows you to do things like monetize through alternate models of advertising as well as subscriptions, which I think is very important to play in tomorrow's world."
At a recent corporate town hall meeting, John Stankey, the longtime AT&T executive and new head of Warner Media, laid out the challenges and opportunities he saw for the network to around 150 employees. He said, in part: "It's going to be a tough year. It's going to be a lot of work to alter and change direction a little bit. [...] You will work very hard, and this next year will -- my wife hates it when I say this -- feel like childbirth... You'll look back on it and be very fond of it, but it's not going to feel great while you're in the middle of it. She says, 'What do you know about this?' I just observe, 'Honey. We love our kids.'" Audio of the meeting was obtained by The New York Times. From the report: The talk, held at HBO headquarters in New York City, was hosted by HBO CEO Richard Plepler. HBO must compete with smartphones for people's attention, Stankey said in this exchange with Plepler: "We need hours a day," Mr. Stankey said, referring to the time viewers spend watching HBO programs. "It's not hours a week, and it's not hours a month. We need hours a day. You are competing with devices that sit in people's hands that capture their attention every 15 minutes." Continuing the theme, he added: "I want more hours of engagement. Why are more hours of engagement important? Because you get more data and information about a customer that then allows you to do things like monetize through alternate models of advertising as well as subscriptions, which I think is very important to play in tomorrow's world."
In the HBO Go app (the one you can use to subscribe to HBO a month at a time), they just dropped the whole "late night" (read: Soft Porn) section. But it's hardly a loss as for some time now they had let updates to that area languish to almost nothing. I have to imagine that subscribers are falling off in part because of that...
What happened to the HBO of old that had sex positive and fun programming like "Real Sex"? Seems like everyone wants to be Netflix now with hot original dramatic shows, while abandoning aspects that make each service unique and provide extra value.
The funny thing is that personally I only just started subscribing to HBO, for Game of Thrones, then Silicon Valley, then Westworld. But once I finish up those new seasons I'll probably let the subscription go again as not much of the other content really grabs me. Some more high-end adult content produced with some regularity might help convince me to stay...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
uploading is just for those evil pirates and server admins. good little consumers only CONSUME pre approved content.
you're not being a good little consumer. a note has been made in your account.
So, all the good talent is leaving for a new internet-only production company that will take most of HBO's market share? Cool.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Netflix has to be just loving this. AT&T will turn one of the only remaining traditional TV stations into complete and utter shit. Well, at least it will have plenty of company. Meanwhile watch how subscribers run for the hills as the price goes up and the quality goes down.
AT&T has always been run as a monopoly. They haven't the faintest idea about customer service and now they are going to be in for a very rude awakening. RIP HBO.
Their service is great where they have competition. Speedtest.net just now showed 679 Mbps down and 776Mbps up on my advertised gigabit ($70/month) from AT&T in a neighborhood with multiple providers offering >100Mbps service