If you had an inkling of hope that HBO might start moving away from cable and satellite providers, co-president Eric Kessler is here to extinguish that notion. As reported by mocoNews, Kessler said at an industry event today there was no chance his company's shows (True Blood, The Wire, Game of Thrones, and so on) would be made available to digital non-subscribers. (Starz, meanwhile, was rumored to be considering just such a move.) Kessler explained he thinks cord cutting is more of a temporary phenomenon that will go away when the economy improves, and that partnering with cable and satellite providers allows it to avoid transaction costs. Quoth Stringer Bell, "it's just business."

The company's great on-demand app HBO Go will remain tied to a cable / satellite account. Kessler said the adoption breaks down to 55 percent iPad and the remaining 45 percent split about evenly between iPhones and Android devices. Although opinions are of course subject to change, we get the feeling HBO's bottom line is well enough that this isn't a wavering thought. And of course, if you're patient enough, the company obviously has no problems selling episodes à la carte once the DVDs hit store shelves.