HBO tech executives leave ahead of Internet launch as network's strategy changes

SCUTTLED: The original plan was to spend serious coin to develop a sophisticated streaming platform that would allow HBO to challenge Netflix and Amazon head on, but that changed when Rupert Murdoch made a surprise takeover bid for Time Warner last summer.

NEW YORK: Time Warner's HBO is preparing to sell a standalone service over the Internet for the first time, in one of the most closely watched moves in pay TV history. 

Yet the road to the launch has been far from an easy one — marked by changes in strategy, deadlines, and the departure of its chief technology officer along with two of his lieutenants.