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HBO's streaming plan whiffs with only 800,000 paying subscribers
(Helen Sloan/HBO)
HBO Now, the company's cable-free streaming service, has only 800,000 paying subscribers.
On Time Warner's fourth-quarter earnings call, HBO CEO Richard Plepler confirmed the number, which was short of analyst predictions of 1 million to 2 million.
HBO Now launched in April, and it lets you pay $15 a month to get HBO a la carte, no cable subscription required.
Netflix had about 75 million subscribers as of January, and Hulu reported 9 million subscribers last April.
On the call, Time Warner tried to put the HBO Now subscriber growth in context, stressing that some content that is particularly suited for digital platforms, like Vice's daily news show and Jon Stewart's coming project, has not yet debuted.
After an analyst referred to HBO Now as having "only" 800,000 subscribers during a question, Plepler objected to the characterization of the number as deserving an "only." HBO Now, he said, is just getting started.
In total, Time Warner added 2.7 million US subscribers for HBO (including HBO Now) and Cinemax in 2015.
HBO Now is a big part of the company's bid to become "ecosystem agnostic," as Plepler puts it. That means that HBO will live wherever you are: your computer, phone, tablet, smart TV, Apple TV, Roku, and so on.
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