HBO's Richard Plepler says network will do standalone HBO Go when it makes 'arithmetic' sense

HBO CEO Richard Plepler spoke on Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference about how the premium network has considered doing a standalone HBO Go, but won't make that move until it makes enough financial sense.

The HBO head said that though they have looked into offering the service separately, it doesn't yet make financial sense, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "It's just arithmetic. Right now, this is the best model." Currently subscribers need HBO through cable or satellite in order to get HBO Go.

While he said, "It's a sin to leave money on the table," he noted that the service is best the way it currently is because about 70 million households have cable and satellite, while only 9 million have just broadband.

That doesn't mean it'll never happened as Plepler noted they could introduce a standalone service later, reports Variety. "We will not be caught without the ability to pivot should we decide that pivoting is the right thing to do."

The premium cable network also isn't looking to make a move just yet because their tried and true model was still working well as HBO has about 130 million subscribers and its original programming does well. Game of Thrones averages, across all available platforms, about 14 million viewers.

image courtesy of Amazon

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