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Don’t bother subscribing, HBO wants you to use your friends’ HBO Go logins

Published Jan 20th, 2014 9:20AM EST
HBO Go Login Sharing

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Did you think you were getting away with something by saving $150 a year while using your friend’s HBO Go login instead of subscribing to HBO yourself? As it turns out, HBO not only doesn’t mind that you’re using someone else’s login to stream its pay TV content for free… it wants you to. In fact, according to the company’s chief executive, account sharing is a “terrific marketing vehicle for the next generation of viewers.”

“It presents the brand to more and more people and gives them an opportunity, hopefully, to become addicted to it,” HBO CEO Richard Plepler told BuzzFeed during a recent interview. He continued, “What we’re in the business of is building addicts, building video addicts,and the way we do that is exposing our product and our shows and our brand to more and more people.”

Regarding whether or not account sharing may be a problem that impacts HBO’s bottom line, Plepler doesn’t see it that way. “It’s not that we’re unmindful of it, it just has no impact on the business,” he said. Instead, the executive believes it will ultimately lead to more HBO subscriptions over time.

So there you have — time to stop pirating Game of Thrones and just borrow someone’s HBO Go login.

A video of the interview with HBO CEO Richard Plepler follows below.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.