HBO, one of the mega-stations owned by the conglomerate Time Warner, has been basically impossible to (legally) reach for those without a cable subscription–until now. HBO’s CEO Richard Plepler announced on the 15th that the channel would become a stand-alone streaming service in 2015, much like Netflix.

When trying to watch HBO and get into great shows like “Game of Thrones” or “True Detective,” people have been frustrated that it is only available through subscriptions with cable company packages. Having to pay Comcast for random fees and packages that you barely use just to watch one channel seemed ridiculous to customers, and now the CEO’s are listening. When Plepler broke the news, he noted that there are 80 million homes that do not subscribe to HBO and over 10 million broadband-only homes, which leaves a large market untouched. So now he’s changing that.

Whether you’re a fan of streaming services or not, this is huge news. Being able to remove all barriers to their channel and work around cable packages is going to ruffle a few feathers with current partners, but it will ultimately open the door to hundreds of newer, and possibly better partnerships. With a slew of new titles popping up on HBO’s roster and a revised HBO GO app, this news comes at a perfect time to get us all giddy like it’s Christmas Eve, so binge on my friends.