During an investors meeting, HBO Chairman and Time Warner CEO Richard Plepler revealed its plan to launch a stand-alone HBO streaming service in 2015.

"That is a large and growing opportunity that should no longer be left untapped. It is time to remove all barriers to those who want HBO," Plepler said.

"So, in 2015, we will launch a stand-alone, over-the-top, HBO service in the United States. We will work with our current partners. And, we will explore models with new partners. All in, there are 80 million homes that do not have HBO and we will use all means at our disposal to go after them," the executive added.

The reason behind this move is to target the ten million (and growing) broadband-only homes in the United States.

Netflix has exploited the Pay TV universe for a long time now, and so as Hulu and YouTube.

With this move, HBO is not only going up against these guys, but they are also roiling the television industry by being the largest legitimate cable and satellite television network to offer a stand-alone streaming service, which will not require expensive cable or satellite subscriptions.

"This is an enormous breakthrough; consumers will be able to get to pick what they want and they will finally have content companies selling directly to them," said Gene Kimmelman, president of public interest group Public Knowledge.

HBO's announcement comes on the heel of CBS unwrapping their digital video-on-demand and live-streaming services called CBS All Access.

"CBS All Access is another key step in the Company's long-standing strategy of monetizing our local and national content in the ways that viewers want it," said Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation.

"This new subscription service will deliver the most of CBS to our biggest fans while being additive to the overall ecosystem. Across the board, we continue to capitalize on technological advances that help consumers engage with our world-class programming, and we look forward to serving our viewers in this new and exciting way,"  Moonves explained.

HBO is among other things home to the worldwide television phenomenon, 'Game of Thrones.'