HBO CEO Richard Plepler recently made comments indicating that he doesn’t really care if HBO subscribers share their HBO Go passwords.
Netflix held its fourth quarter earnings conference call in the form of a Google Hangout on Wednesday. One analyst brought Plepler’s comments up to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Hastings’ response was:
“That was an interesting comment, I suppose. So, I guess Plepler – the CEO of HBO – doesn’t mind me sharing his account information. So it’s [email protected], and his password is ‘Netflix Bitch’.”
Everyone on the hangout appeared to think that was pretty funny. You can watch it at about fourteen and a half minutes in:
So I guess he’s kind of saying that HBO is Netflix’s bitch? I’m not sure how grounded in reality that is, considering HBO’s content is one major thing that keeps people clinging to cable and not going all in with streaming services like Netflix.
He’s obviously joking, but still. These comments don’t bode well for any content agreements between these two anytime soon.
NPD Group put out a report earlier this week indicating that HBO is rapidly losing subscribers as Netflix gains them. HBO called the report “simply incorrect,” and NPD ended up pulling the report. It’s unclear if Hastings knew that the report was pulled.
Either way, Netflix’s subscribers do continue to grow. The company announced that it has surpassed 44 million members, and expects to surpass 48 million this quarter.
Image via YouTube
