May 24--Casey Bloys is the new president of programming at HBO, succeeding Michael Lombardo who stepped down on Friday.
"We are very fortunate that Casey will assume the role of President, HBO Programming," HBO Chairman Richard Plepler said in a statement issued Monday. "He has the deepest respect and admiration of our colleagues inside the company as well as throughout the creative community."
Bloys, who will report to Plepler, had been named president of all series and late-night programming early this year. He has been on a fast track at the premium cable network thanks to his success on the comedy front, which includes the HBO hits "Silicon Valley," "Ballers," "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver," "Girls" and "Veep."
Lombardo stepped down last week after serving as HBO's programming chief since 2007, a move that he said was voluntary. Lombardo had been with the network since 1983.
The executive changes come at a time when the Time Warner unit is facing new competition from cable networks and video streaming services that are heavily investing in original programming. While HBO is still very profitable, it has been challenged to find a drama hit on the scale of its massive success "Game of Thrones." The network's most recent high profile drama launch, the '70s music business saga "Vinyl," has fallen short of expectations for critical accolades and ratings.
In his new role, Bloys will oversee all programming units at HBO and its sister channel Cinemax.
Bloys, 44, joined HBO in 2004 as a program development executive for HBO Independent Productions.
