Nelson is believed to have preferred to exit rather than having a smaller toehold within HBOGETTY IMAGES
HBO Sports President PETER NELSON is "leaving the company" while HBO’s parent company, AT&T, has "enacted a significant layoff of a reported 600 people across their portfolio of media brands," according to Ben Koo of AWFUL ANNOUNCING. Nelson’s departure is "not being termed as a layoff." He has "left the company 'on his own terms' which can be interpreted in many different ways." Popular conjecture is that Nelson and HBO’s motivation for the parting "may boil down the fact that HBO Sports’s internal significance and ambitions have been trending down for the past decade as we’ve seen the network walk away from boxing and have inconsistent documentary output." Programs like "Inside the NFL" and "24/7," which focused on the behind-the-scenes leadup to the Winter Classic and "various big-time boxing matches, have also exited the network." Essentially, the role of HBO Sports president was "decreasing in oversight and influence internally, and Nelson is believed to have preferred to exit rather than having a smaller toehold within HBO." The restructuring taking place is "ongoing and it may take a bit before a new lay of the land is established in terms of structure and strategy." HBO Sports "still has two anchors" in its sports portfolio in "Real Sports" and "Hard Knocks," in addition to documentaries which have been on "a bit of an upswing of late" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 8/10).
