Earlier today, it was revealed that HBO was outsourcing plans for its new, standalone video streaming service that would stand separate from the existing HBO Go. The earlier report indicated that HBO's chief technology officer Otto Berkes "couldn't pull it off" — and now Berkes has tendered his resignation, according to Variety.
"Recently HBO's management decided to partner with a third party to assist HBO in bringing our OTT service to market in 2015," Berkes wrote in a memo obtained by Variety. "This is a change in direction from what I planned with HBO and the approach will not utilize my overall capabilities. Therefore, I feel that this is the right time for me to move on from HBO so that I am able to fully pursue my passion building world-class technology teams, products and businesses."
Berkes leaving doesn't exactly come as a surprise — in addition to sources saying that the CTO wasn't able to get HBO's in-house product where it needed to be, Fortune reported earlier that his group was toxic and "backstabbing." Now, rather than build its own solution, HBO will outsource the work on its forthcoming streaming solution to MLB Advanced, which is used by MLB.com, the WWE Network, and WatchESPN.