Anyone who thought that the war for premium television supremacy was over, won by Netflix with upstart streamers such as Amazon and Hulu hot on its heels, should think again.

With Game of Thrones the most-watched show in HBO’s history, a surprise news success in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a social-media firestorm with The Jinx, renewals of Veep and Silicon Valley on the morning after their premieres and HBO Now prepping for wide availability on April 24, HBO remains the network to beat in the increasingly competitive game for premium subscribers.

This summer, the network will premiere season two of True Detective, starring Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughan and Rachel McAdams, and The Brink, starring Jack Black and Tim Robbins.

“Anybody who was writing our epitaph was obviously doing so erroneously,” HBO CEO Richard Pepler told the New York Times. “Interesting, isn’t it, that at a time that’s been called the most competitive moment in our industry’s history, we have, in my opinion, the best array of content in our history.”

Pepler is feeling confident, but it’s both a tough and glorious time to be in the premium TV business. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu’s willingness to spend money on content means that HBO isn’t necessarily the go-to network for the best projects in town. Netflix is expected to spend more than $450 million on content this year, according to research firm MoffettNathanson, while HBO will spent around $1 billion. It’s a veritable arms race for content.

“The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos famously said two years ago, likely before HBO Now was even a gleam in Pepler’s eye.

And while many consumers are excited that HBO will finally be available without a cable subscription, the service’s price point — nearly twice that of Netflix at $15 per month — has some wondering whether the streaming service will be competitive.

“The content remains the secret sauce,” Pepler told the paper. “It goes right back to its essence: Where does the talent want to paint?”

For today, that canvas remains HBO.

Read more: The New York Times

Brief Take: The competitive environment for TV’s highest-end content has never been tougher, making it an amazing time to be a fan of television.

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