The Atlantic

The End of an Era for HBO—And for Television

The network has lost its CEO just months after its parent company was bought by AT&T. Subscribers should brace themselves for dramatic change.
Source: Mike Blake / Reuters

to turn its new acquisition HBO into a Netflix-size juggernaut have been brewing for months while the telephone company completed its . Last July, the AT&T executive John Stankey gathered HBO’s employees and lectured them about how the company would need to get to compete with other streaming giants; the reaction in the room was reportedly less than positive. Several months later, the other shoe has finally dropped. HBO’s chief executive officer, Richard Plepler, who joined the company in 1992 and Thursday that he would be stepping down.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic7 min readAmerican Government
The Americans Who Need Chaos
This is Work in Progress, a newsletter about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here. Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why peop
The Atlantic5 min read
The Strangest Job in the World
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here. The role of first lady couldn’t be stranger. You attain the position almost by accident, simply by virtue of being married to the president

Related Books & Audiobooks