T AT&T Inc

By Joe Flint and Drew FitzGerald 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (April 2, 2020).

AT&T Inc. tapped former Hulu boss Jason Kilar as chief executive of its WarnerMedia unit, which houses HBO, CNN and the soon-to-launch streaming service HBO Max.

Mr. Kilar succeeds John Stankey, 57 years old, who last year gained an additional title as AT&T's chief operating officer, putting him in line to succeed company Chief Executive Randall Stephenson. Mr. Kilar will report to Mr. Stankey.

The hiring of Mr. Kilar, 48, indicates how important the streaming-video business will be for WarnerMedia in the months ahead. Mr. Kilar was the founding chief executive of Hulu, the streaming service that is now controlled by Walt Disney Co.

"Jason is going to be a key executive," Mr. Stankey said in an interview, adding that Mr. Kilar's expertise in software will be crucial for AT&T to "unify our roadmaps of advertising, media and communications."

WarnerMedia plans to launch HBO Max late next month after more than a year of development. The effort faces a host of challenges, from persuading cable-television partners to promote the new application to attracting customers in a market crowded with competing services from Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Comcast Corp. and Disney, among others.

HBO Max will offer the premium cable channel's existing library of movies and TV series combined with a new set of original programming, as well as popular older shows such as "Friends" and "South Park."

The company decided to charge $15 a month for the new product -- the same as basic HBO today -- to lure more viewers to an app that will form the foundation of WarnerMedia's subscription and advertising strategy. It is free for current HBO subscribers, though existing customers must proactively log into a new app.

A new challenge might be persuading budget-conscious consumers to splurge on a new service at a time of economic uncertainty because of the effect of the novel coronavirus.

The virus has also ground production of movies and television shows to a halt, meaning that the pipeline of original content for HBO Max will be slowed as it will for other entertainment platforms.

While Mr. Kilar is experienced in the streaming world, there are other parts of the company whose operations he has less familiarity with, including CNN and Warner Bros. Both of those units will report to him.

In an interview, Mr. Kilar said, "there will absolutely be a learning curve" with regards to CNN and Warner Bros. He praised Jeff Zucker and Ann Sarnoff, who respectively oversee those units. "My job is to listen and be supportive."

Mr. Kilar was CEO of Hulu from its formation in 2007 until 2013. Prior to that he held senior roles at Amazon including senior vice president of world-wide application software. He also co-founded the streaming service Vessel and was on the board of DreamWorks Animation.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com and Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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