HBO will offer a stand-alone streaming service to customers in the U.S. next year, removing a big brick from the shaky foundations of the cable-TV industry. ”It’s time to remove all barriers to those who want HBO,” said HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler at Time Warner’s (TWX) investor meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 15. Specifics are practically nonexistent. Plepler didn’t say how much such a service would cost, whether it would include a full slate of content, or even how people would buy it. A spokesman for HBO declined to give any additional details. But his remarks should be enough to strike fear into the likes of Comcast (CMCSA) and Cablevision (CVC), whose business models are based on maintaining barriers to highly coveted cable programming. The biggest open questions are about how HBO pursues a more direct relationship with customers than it has had in the past. The cable network has hinted it would work with broadband providers to make it possible for subscribers to pay an additional fee to get the streaming service, even if they don’t pay for cable TV. Internet-service providers (which are often the same as cable-TV providers) want to stay in the loop, and maintaining good relations with them is still important for HBO. Selling a new streaming product this way would probably help appease them. And it would also save HBO from having to build its own infrastructure for billing and customers relations—although everyone is still going to blame HBO when the service goes down during Game of Thrones. Read more http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-15/how-hbos-new-streaming-service-shakes-up-cable-tv
