HBO CEO Richard Plepler to step down amid AT&T restructuring

By: Alexandra S.

Winter has come for Richard Plepler.

The suntanned, smooth-talking Hollywood mogul — who as boss of HBO for the past 27 years has greenlighted a slew of hits including “Game of Thrones” — is stepping down amid a brutal reshuffling under corporate parent AT&T.

Insiders said Plepler, 59, appears to be leaving after losing a bid to run HBO as well as the Turner division that houses the TBS, CNN and TNT cable networks,and the Warner Bros. movie studio.

Turner President David Levy is also stepping down, according to reports, amid a broad revamp of WarnerMedia, the new name for media giant Time Warner since it got acquired by AT&T in an $85.4 billion deal.

Earlier this week, an appeals court slapped down the Justice Department’s antitrust challenge to the merger, paving the way for AT&T to press ahead with dramatic changes in the coming days.

Insiders said WarnerMedia Chief Executive John Stankey is poised to give the job that Plepler wanted to Bob Greenblatt, an ex-chairman of NBC. In addition to running Turner and HBO, Greenblatt could also get oversight over a new streaming service that WarnerMedia plans to launch in a bid to compete with Netflix and Amazon, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Rumors of Plepler’s departure had been brewing since AT&T’s deal for Time Warner was announced in 2016. While Plepler had gained a reputation for knocking out a handful of high-quality hits, AT&T’ CEO Randall Stephenson told a Goldman Sachs conference in New York last September that HBO needed a “more fulsome lineup and schedule.”

The new content strategy for HBO is “more about filling out the schedule,” Stephenson said.

The remarks rang alarm bells, with insiders wondering whether Plepler — who had enjoyed an unusual degree of freedom under Time Warner’s old boss, Jeff Bewkes — would have the desire to pump out more content with less resources.

Despite the apparent snub, Stankey heaped praise upon Plepler, saying in a statement that “his vision, energy and passion helped to elevate HBO’s brand to what it has become today.”

Before “Game of Thrones,” Plepler had been credited with hits from “Sex in the City” to “Veep” to “The Sopranos.”

In a Thursday memo to staff, Plepler called his run at HBO as a “great joy” and “honor of my professional life.”

Plepler added that he will stay on for a bit to ensure a “seamless and organic” transition” for his successor.