Michael Lombardo


Bell secures HBO content as Corus rejigs

Bell Media has secured an “unprecedented” agreement with HBO that means just one operator will offer all HBO programming for the first time in Canadian television history. Bell’s rival Corus Entertainment will stepping back from the pay TV movies business, transferring over its HBO content licensing rights as the deal kicks in. Subsequently, Bell will […]

HBO strikes five-season Sesame Street deal

HBO and Sesame Workshop have agreed a five-season deal for iconic kids series Sesame Street. The deal means the show will be on the HBO linear channel, its TV everywhere service HBO Go, and SVOD offering HBO Now, for at least five years. Episodes of Sesame Street will debut on the premium cable net and […]

HBO orders Katims drama pilot

US premium cable channel HBO has ordered a romantic drama pilot from Parenthood creator Jason Katims. Us. marks Katims’s first project for cable, having previously focused on scripted network programming. He has written and created the show, with his True Jack Productions and Universal Television attached to produce. The pilot will look into the unexpected […]

Vice launching daily news and OTT channel with HBO

Youth content brand Vice is launching a daily news service on HBO in the US and a branded channel on the premium cabler’s upcoming OTT service HBO Now. The half-hour Vice daily newscast will be stripped through the week on HBO as part of a renewed, wider programming deal between and Time Warner’s HBO and […]

HBO preps huge Game of Thrones simulcast

The upcoming season of Game of Thrones will launch simultaneously in 170 countries next month. Season five starts on HBO in the US on April 12 at 9pm ET. It will go out at the same time on all of the international channels that have acquired the fantasy series. The subsequent ten episodes will be […]

A-listers attached to historical HBO mini

US premium cable channel HBO has ordered a historical miniseries that has actors Tom Hanks, Ed Norton and Brad Pitt attached as executive producers. Lewis and Clark will be a six-hour scripted mini starring Casey Affleck and Matthias Schoenaerts. Hanks (Castaway, Philadelphia), Norton (Fight Club) and Pitt (Se7en) executive produce along with Gary Goetzman (Game […]

HBO returns for Leftovers ahead of UK trip

US premium cabler HBO has commissioned a second season of paranormal drama The Leftovers ahead of programming president Michael Lombardo’s trip to the UK next week. Warner Bros. Television-produced and distributed mystery The Leftovers comes from Damien Lindelof (Lost) and author Tom Perrotta, and follows a world in which 140 million people inexplicably disappear. The […]

HBO orders new Danny McBride comedy

HBO has commissioned Vice Principals, a new comedy series starring Eastbound & Down‘s Danny McBride. The eighteen episode series was created by McBride and Jody Hill, the same pair that created Eastbound & Down, which ran to four seasons on HBO and was produced by Will Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions. The new show will be […]

Return for HBO’s Comeback, Netflix’s Orange

American premium cable channel HBO has ordered a new limited season run of 2005 sitcom The Comeback, while in related renewal news SVOD service Netflix has renewed Orange is the New Black for the third time. The Comeback, which Friends alumna Lisa Kudrow co-created and starred in, ran for one season nearly a decade ago, […]

HBO orders more Girls, Boardwalk Empire ending

HBO has greenlit a fourth season of Lena Dunham’s comedy Girls and a fifth and final season of Boardwalk Empire. The final season of period crime drama Boardwalk will start on HBO as part of the premium cabler’s fall schedule. Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming said: “It has been an incredible honor to bring this […]