Years in Cable: 20+
HBO was ahead of the curve with its launch of standalone streaming service HBO Now— and it’s working hard to achieve additional distribution. Plepler recently set the number of paying subs around 800,000 since its April 2015 debut—a number that doesn’t include Playstation and Xbox. And that’s in no small part thanks to programming whiz Lombardo, whose acumen for hits runs the gamut from “Game of Thrones” to “Last Week Tonight” to award magnet “Veep.” Expect a push for greater distribution of HBO Now, through additional platforms, skinny bundles and other possibilities for innovative packaging.
