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relates to AT&T Is Dragging HBO’s Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark Ages
Photo illustration: Caroline David; Photo: Courtesy HBO

AT&T Is Dragging HBO’s Streaming Strategy Out of the Dark Ages

With Richard Plepler out, new boss Robert Greenblatt will need to fix years of missteps to catch up to Netflix.

Richard Plepler, the gregarious and perpetually tanned head of Home Box Office Inc., had a saying: HBO is a media company, not a technology company. The statement grew more radical with each passing year as seemingly every other business—car manufacturers, cigarette makers, pizza chains—declared themselves technology companies.

Under Plepler, who became co-president in 2007 and chief executive officer in 2013, HBO didn’t pretend to be a bootstrapping startup; it was a house of art, not science. The network cultivated the top creative minds in TV, racked up Emmys, threw killer cocktail parties, and generated billions of dollars in profit for its corporate parent, Time Warner.