HBO's risk now it two-fold:
#1 Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or (gasp) Google start outspending HBO on serial shows. The next show of the caliber of "Game of Thrones" or "Sopranos" is not offered through HBO.
#2 Consumers fail to see why they should be paying for HBO, or even want it. You could say a #1 3-4 times, combined with a failure to produce a notable show for a while, would kill HBO's desirability as a brand.
What HBO's management is doing is managing for death. This is what you do when you have a company with a passing business model to keep it as profitable as possible for as long as possible. In some ways you could imagine HBO as a porn company 8 years ago that primarily produced DVDs. Their business is still profitable and glamorous, they are mostly ignoring the pirates, but their real enemy is right around the corner.
HBO still has the possibility of transitioning. People care about HBO, thus all these stories about it. What they've done is tell their competitors "come get us." (alternatively HBO could just be calling their bluff and has full plans ready to switch to a web/mobile version)
#1 Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, or (gasp) Google start outspending HBO on serial shows. The next show of the caliber of "Game of Thrones" or "Sopranos" is not offered through HBO.
#2 Consumers fail to see why they should be paying for HBO, or even want it. You could say a #1 3-4 times, combined with a failure to produce a notable show for a while, would kill HBO's desirability as a brand.
What HBO's management is doing is managing for death. This is what you do when you have a company with a passing business model to keep it as profitable as possible for as long as possible. In some ways you could imagine HBO as a porn company 8 years ago that primarily produced DVDs. Their business is still profitable and glamorous, they are mostly ignoring the pirates, but their real enemy is right around the corner.
HBO still has the possibility of transitioning. People care about HBO, thus all these stories about it. What they've done is tell their competitors "come get us." (alternatively HBO could just be calling their bluff and has full plans ready to switch to a web/mobile version)