HBO, Showtime mull online move

Time Warner’s HBO and CBS network Showtime could be made available over the internet to customers who do not have a cable TV subscription, according to the CEOs of the companies involved.

Jeff Bewkes, CEO at Time Warner, and CBS topper Leslie Moonves, both admitted that their respective networks could be made available online as pressure from VoD services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix ramps up.

Bewkes told attendees at the Goldman Sachs Group Communacopia Conference that providing HBO directly to viewers was “becoming more viable, more interesting,” according to Reuters, despite previously arguing that the commercial argument of such a move would not add up.

He added that the “broadband-only opportunity, up until now, wasn’t a digital prize that would be smart to move from one to the other.

“Now the broadband opportunity is getting quite a bit bigger, the ability of the plan to deliver something robust is getting stronger.”

Speaking at the same conference, Moonves added that subscriptions for CBS’s TV Anywhere service for Showtime could be sold to those without a cable deal, but added that he was not sure when such a move would happen.

HBO also offers TV Anywhere access to its shows, but viewers must already have a cable subscription to watch.

The comments follow an agreement struck by Sony to carry 22 Viacom channels including MTV, Nickelodeon and BET on its proposed cloud-based TV service.