Starz CEO Chris Albrecht responded Friday at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour to criticism Thursday by HBO programming president Michael Lombardo by denying a feud between the networks.
“I have nothing but respect and affection for Mike Lombardo,” Albrecht said. “Shame on whoever framed this question yesterday.”
Lombardo Thursday responded to a question about a Starz press release that compared Starz’s “Survivor’s Remorse” favorably to HBO’s “Ballers” by saying “What’s ‘Survivor’s Remorse’?”
Albrecht was asked about Lombardo’s statement Friday while introducing Starz’s TCA session.
“I have never seen ‘Ballers,’ but I assume it’s good, because HBO picked it up for a second season,” Albrecht said. He added, “There is no feud certainly.”
Albrecht also announced that the full new seasons of “Flesh and Bone” and “Da Vinci’s Demons” will be available to view via Starz Play and Starz On Demand at the same time as their respective linear premieres, Oct. 24 and Nov. 28
“It’s fun to run a premium network and it’s fun to do different things with programming,” Albrecht said this is an experiment for us, because we can.”
Albrecht however indicated that it is unlikely that “Outlander” and other shows will adopt a binge-friendly release model.
“If we waited for all of the episodes to be done so that we could release them all at the same time, we would have to delay” the release significantly he said.