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HBO and Turner are two of the biggest successes of television. But at a public company meeting last June, John Stankey, the new AT & T executive, said he wanted more.
Promising "a tough year," he said, the Emmys Castle dungeon by HBO for shows like "Game of Thrones" was not enough. He said that viewers had to watch the premium network for "several hours a day," as reported by the New York Times.
It looked like a repudiation of the quality-on-quantity formula that had made HBO the envy of most networks. Stankey said on stage that HBO was making money – "but not enough".
HBO chief Richard Plepler retorted, "Oh, now, now, be careful," he told his new boss, according to the Times.
Read also: Final Season 'Game of Thrones': HBO Unveils 20 New Character Photos – and 20 Custom Emojis
On Thursday, Plepler announced his resignation in a press release that included promises of smooth transition and a positive attitude on the part of Stankey and himself. Shortly after, it was announced that David Levy would also be stepping down as president of the Turner division, which includes networks ranging from TBS to TNT and Cartoon Network to Turner Classic Movies and truTV.
The departures took place a day after the Wall Street Journal announced that former NBC Entertainment chairman, Bob Greenblatt, was in talks with AT & T's WarnerMedia to run a combined HBO and Turner, led by Stankey as General Manager of WarnerMedia. The new combined organization would reduce redundancies, but would also combine two very different entities.
CNBC reported that Plepler wanted more autonomy – continuing to do the job he had been doing successfully for over 10 years – but that Stankey was "running HBO."
WarnerMedia declined to comment.
Read also: Richard Plepler to step down as President and CEO of HBO
The question now is whether the actions will finally generate "enough" money to justify the repair of televised empires that seem not to be broken.
HBO has thrived in ratings and awards since Plepler greenlit its first show, "True Blood," which debuted in 2008. The following successes were "The Pacific," "Big Little Lies," "Boardwalk Empire" and "Veep". John Oliver his acclaimed show.
An HBO representative told TheWrap that Plepler did not have a fixed end date, but that it would probably be in "several" weeks. It will not accept this decision when the company will move into its new building located in the Hudson 's triage district in Manhattan in late April or early May.
Moreover, it is not known when Levy could leave Turner, a bastion of the notation where he is president since 2013. TBS completed in 2018 the sixth most watched cable TV channel, followed by TNT.
Read also: David Levy steps down as Turner president as part of WarnerMedia Shakeup
In October 2016, AT & T announced its intention to buy Time Warner, now known as WarnerMedia. Thursday, a court of appeal authorized the merger.
But this city hall, last June, made it clear that the former telephone company wanted to increase its revenues by focusing on the screen by hand, not on that of your living room. "It's not hours per week, nor hours per month. We need several hours a day. You're competing with devices that hold people in their hand and hold their attention every 15 minutes, "said Stankey, according to the Times.
The question is whether Thursday's moves will mark the end of an era, as Sunday nights on HBO were seen as the opening of big-budget blockbusters, Oscar-winning contenders, or theatrical plays. Broadway.
As Stankey explained in June, his plan was not just about entertaining viewers, but exploiting their data, as the Times quoted him as saying, "Why are more hours of engagement important? Because you get more data and information about a customer, you can then perform operations such as monetization through other advertising models as well as subscriptions, which is very important, in my opinion, in the world of tomorrow. "
Gone are the days when Tony Soprano – whom Plepler quoted in his farewell message on Thursday – was enough.
Read also: AT & T Reports Record Losses for DirecTV and Loses Q4 Earnings Estimates Despite WarnerMedia Power
Stankey thinks of the "world of tomorrow" of watching what you watch and regurgitating your desires with targeted shows and commercials.
The days of data mining could also replace those of Plepler writers and reporters, looking for good ideas for prestige programming.
"For high-end fiction and documentary writers, HBO is one of the latest games in town," said Frank Rich, former executive producer of columnists in The New York Times, in the "Veep" and "Veep" movies. "HBO Succession", in a Plepler 2012 Profile.
In his statement on Thursday, Stankey praised Plepler. "Richard is one of the most successful executives in our industry and I have been fortunate to have his support over the last few months," he said. "Her vision, energy and passion have helped elevate the HBO brand to what it has become today. Richard's impact on our company and on the viewers who are passionate about HBO's sustainable programming will continue to be felt for years to come. "
The next version of HBO, whatever it may be, will face a slew of new competitors who decide themselves to focus on prestige programming, a permanent draw of the eyeball or a combination of both. They include Netflix, Amazon and Disney's new streaming services and huge Apple spend, as well as everything Apple unveils.
Maybe one of them will hire Plepler.
Tony Maglio, Jennifer Maas, Tim Baysinger and Reid Nakamura contributed to this story.
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