Game of couch potatoes: HBO is coming

[SINGAPORE] To many in TV Land, the areas outside the United States might seem as remote as Westeros in Game of Thrones, but not to Home Box Office (HBO). For these international markets, the pay-television behemoth has one message: HBO Is Coming.

HBO's international presence might be long-established, but the brand only began cleaning house outside the US in recent years, by building up a majority ownership of its international joint ventures and eventually buying out its partners. Last September, HBO did the same with HBO Asia and HBO South Asia, bringing even more international distribution under its control.

It is fitting then, that HBO's CEO, Richard Plepler, has spent …