The top media executive of AT & T, John Stankey recently told the staff of HBO that they will have to work harder so that they can make more money. The audio obtained by a leading media house reveals a lot more details of the recent conversation between Stankey and the longtime CEO of HBO, Richard Pepler. AT & T purchased the highly respected entertainment company last month.

The statement from the media executive who will now oversee the media businesses of AT & T indicates that he wants to make radical changes in HBO to make sure that it gets ahead of Netflix.

Stankey wants HBO to increase its reach

When AT & T acquired Time Warner for $85 billion after winning a legal battle with the Department of Justice, experts from the entertainment industry had said that the merger can possibly harm the consumers. They feared that AT & T will turn the profitable and carefully curated HBO into something like Netflix which is just a big-data monster. The recent statement by Stankey seems to indicate that the predictions are going to come true. According to the executive, HBO will have to develop itself into a broad enough network to increase its penetration into far more homes. Currently, HBO reaches 35 to 40% audience.

According to Stankey,” You get more data and information about a customer that then allows you to do things like monetize through alternate models of advertising as well as subscriptions, which I think is very important to play in tomorrow’s world.” In the legal battle, AT & T also acquired CNN, DC Comics, and several other famous media properties. However, HBO is the most successful and prestigious of all the divisions.

 Stankey to provide more resources to HBO staff                                                          

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Stankey will now head the media empire of AT & T and is expecting more from the HBO employees. However, he does not seem to be in favor of converting HBO into a content mill and start creating a huge volume of videos similar to Netflix. Rather he wants to help the HBO employees achieve the target and for that Stankey is ready to provide more resources and a high degree of autonomy.