HBO confirms new content president

Casey Bloys will fill Michael Lombardo’s shoes at HBO after the president of programming announced his exit following a 33-year stint at the premium cabler.

Bloys was given a wider role at HBO earlier this year, adding drama to his comedy brief, in the wake of Michael Ellenberg’s departure. He has now been upped again, and will be HBO’s top programming executive.

Lombardo, meanwhile, will have a producer deal with HBO after his handover to Bloys is complete.

His nine-year tenure as programming president has yielded hits including Game of Thrones, True Blood and Girls for HBO, but the cabler has faltered recently with its new shows receiving a mixed response, and other projects running into delays and difficulties in production.

HBO chairman Richard Plepler said: “It goes without saying that Mike’s contributions over these many years, most especially in the last nine as president of programming, have been nothing short of extraordinary.

“I believe it’s fair to say that his brilliant work will stand the test of time and his tenure will be recognised as second to none.”

Bloys will run all programming at HBO and its sister net Cinemax, covering drama, comedy, TV movies, factual and sport.