It's been a nice ride HBO
ATT: "hey HBO, you know how you've been incredibly successfully at creating high quality content by having a focused strategy and not overextending? ... what if ... you didn't."
ugh
https://nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/media/hbo-att-merger.html
ugh
https://nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/media/hbo-att-merger.html


Comments
“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.”
I get that there are market realities that they need to face, and agree with others it's not like they've been batting 1.000 or anything, but if AT&T pushes them too hard in that direction it could backfire. Also it seems like some HBO employees were concerned enough to leak the audio to the Times.
It sounds like they see a viable streaming platform being underutilized in HBO Go/Now and want to compete with the other big guys on volume. I don't know, Netflix seems to be making it work, but their catalog output already seems a lot different than when they developed some of their big shows like Stranger Things, OITNB, House of Cards etc.
That could actually work. After 2000 years they would finally be united against a common enemy.
Blech.
Apart from that, I'm not sure becoming another Netflix is the smartest move when Hulu and Amazon are already moving that direction.
We're seeing the death of chain restaurants and brand loyalty because not everyone wants a bunch of the same anymore. I don't want the TV version of a Big Mac, I want my grass-fed, lovingly prepared hour long drama. Can't be certain but I'm pretty sure this is why all the Netflix Marvel shows are 13 episodes when they should be less or at least pushed to fill those 13 hours better. They're just good enough to keep people on the hook. Quality wise, they desperately need a guiding hand.
It's not a death sentence. Stranger Things is nearly perfect and shows it can be done, but it's kind of the exception at Netflix. I'm not even a big HBO fanatic. I think FX is a better network, and from what I understand they're even more curated and guided than HBO.
The Wire
Treme
Sopranos
Oz
Carnivale
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
Deadwood
Rome
True Blood (its highs were higher than its lows)
the Lary Sanders Show
Boardwalk Empire
Generation Kill
These are just the ones that have aired in the past and I can name without looking up the list. I’m not sure NetFlix can match up to its stable of shows prestige wise just yet. I’m not sure NetFlix has had 7 shows that have stuck with me (they haven’t had enough history yet) to touch what HBO has done and is doing. It’s all personal preference however and NetFlix may serve the needs more of other people.
Are average people really having to choose between subscribing to Netflix or HBO? With so many people saving money by cutting cords and paying $30 - $40 for streaming TV services like YouTubeTV, Playstation Vue, Sling TV, etc., it allows you to also subscribe to other streaming services like Netflix and HBO all at the same time while still paying far less than what they were paying each month just for cable or satellite 5 years into their contract.
Most people I know who have Netflix also have HBO and/or some other streaming services, and I'm not talking about wealthy people. And the more and more that people choose devoting their leisure time to sitting on their ass watching TV (which is the trend going forward), the less they will have any issues with having subscriptions to many different TV streaming platforms.
I couldn't disagree more. No one but AT&T wants HBO to become Netflix. You cannot maintain the same level of quality while dramatically scaling up production. HBO is about to go through a major corporate culture shift, and this is never not reflected in the product. The turnover at HBO will likely skyrocket shortly. And even if most try to stick through it, he's basically told them as directly as possible that he's about to make their life a living hell. If you created a good quality product and then you suddenly needed to sextuple production, how long do you think that same quality is sustainable?
I highlighted the titles above because those are the ones that in my opinion are the only ones a company like AT&T would acknowledge as successful, and BoB was a miniseries.
Some of those shows you listed are highly regarded but no one really watched them (The Wire, Deadwood, Rome). Others were solid but not quite breakouts (The Pacific, Boardwalk Empire, Generation Kill).
That's ~3 shows of undisputed success... over two decades. But let's just say it's 5-6. That's only one high profile success every 3-4 years, but the reason HBO is so highly regarded is precisely because these shows were not drowned out in hundreds of other shitty productions. The star shows shined brighter.
I mean, fuck. What else do you need to know? This charlatan does. not. give. a. fuck. about creating quality and prestige, he just bought it. Now he's going to mine every gram of that cachet to join the consumer espionage party by shitting out as much as possible and tracking everything about its consumption to sold off.
Im one of the people who subscribes to NetFlix, HBO, Showtime, DirecTV Now, and Amazon Prime. So I’d fit into your particular bucket, but I know many younger folks who don’t subscribe to HBO, since they have NetFlix and usually just illegally stream it (they can’t afford cable or don’t want cable). I’m not even sure they know that they can get HBO without cable (HBO Now).
If you’re a cord cutter, then you’re probably going to subscribe to 2-3 of the mass market outlets and then HBO in addition if you’re a fan of their programming (and for earlier access to newer movies). If HBO becomes like the rest, then I don’t think folks will increase the number of mass market outlets to which the subscribe and HBO will be far inferior because they have so much less content.
Premium market is less competitive and they’d be better served by just continuing to try to do that better. Otherwise that will be the opportunity for folks at places like Showtime, Starz, or a new entrant to exploit the opportunity (probably with a lot of HBO refugees to help them).
Oz
Sopranos
Sex and the City
The Wire
Carnivale
Deadwood
True Blood
Game Of Thrones
True Detective
Vice
Last Week Tonight
Real Time
Barry
Silicon Valley
Veep
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Larry Sanders Show
Bored to Death
Flight of the Conchords
Eastbound and Down
The Leftovers
The Newsroom
Boardwalk Empire
The Deuce
Show Me A Hero
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
From the Earth to the Moon
The Young Pope
John Adams
Generation Kill
The Night Of
Six Feet Under
Rome
In Treatment
Big Love
The Defiant Ones
Extras
Hung
Arliss
They've done some great stuff.
I'm not sure how you could get a more conflicting business model with HBO's than that. It's sort of like buying Porsche to compete with Toyota, what the fuck.
If they were smart they would leave HBO untouched and create a new service with the help from some of the talent and experience of some at HBO, and then upsell a discounted bundled price to include HBO with it. A VW if you will.
But @KingKobra is obviously right that this is all just speculation at this point. But assuming they're going to make good on what's been said -- and I see no reason to think otherwise -- I don't see how this can be a good thing for HBO.
It seems most streaming video services are taking this spoon-fed approach. Youtube is an absolute shitshow now, Netflix wants to spoon-feed you what to watch, Instagram won't let you have a simple chronological feed anymore, I don't even have to get started on the dumpster fire that is Facebook. It's all for the same reason, in the name of funneling views to certain content for targeted advertisement money, user preference be damned.
At least Alphabet and Facebook are 'free' services doing this. Netflix neutered user reviews by not putting them in mobile/TV/etc. apps, and now they're finally killing them off entirely. That was probably inevitable as soon as they started making their own content, but the last thing they want is an actual person expressing their opinion of a piece of content on their platform when they can just tell you what to watch instead.