HBO Now will be a 'millennial missile': CEO
HBO CEO Richard Plepler said Tuesday he believes the company's new product will will be a big hit with millennials.
"We think HBO Now is something of a millennial missile," Plepler said on CNBC's " Squawk Alley ." "We think this is a terrific opportunity to earn 10 million broadband-only homes in the U.S., and that's largely a millennial audience."
HBO Now is scheduled to be released in early April and will serve as an over-the-top alternative for consumers without a cable subscription. The service will come with a price tag of $14.99 a month, considerably higher than Netflix (NFLX)'s and Hulu's montly prices ($8.99 and $7.99, respectively).
Plepler said consumers, especially millennials, will be willing to pay the higher price. "We think we have a premium product. We have extraordinary content ... and it's the price of a movie ticket and a bucket of popcorn. If you look at the value of that, we think it makes perfect sense and we think the consumer is going to agree with us," he said.
Another concern is whether HBO Now will cut into HBO's core business: cable subscribers. Plepler said that would not be the case.
"We see this as an expansion of the pie, [it is] not cannibalistic at all of our current business," he said. "It is very additive to our business."
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As of Tuesday, Cablevision is the only cable service provider that has agreed to sell HBO Now, but that will change eventually, Plepler said. "I do think they'll get on board, and I think they'll get on board because it's good for their business. Nobody is doing us any favors selling HBO. They're selling HBO because it expands their businesses."
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