Comcast replaces Cinemax with on-demand service after dropping Tivo

I was recently told that Cinemax was no longer in Charter/Spectrum Silver Package.

 

Spectrum recently did the same with cibemax and epix making them ql la carte

 

AT&T is really making hardball deals with MVPD's, I think they really don't want any other service to have HBO and Cinemax--and oh, yes, meanwhile AT&T is including HBO at no additional charge to their top tier wireless plans. So much for their statements filed with DOJ saying they would never use the HBO/Cinemax product (along with the Warner owned channels) use such tacticts. Of course, they sued DOJ and won, and it seems they are doing as they please.

 

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It's not a monopoly. You can dump Comcast TV at any time. What is clear is that they have their own platform and would prefer their customers use it. If that's not for you, then go a different route for entertainment. You have lots of choices.

 

They want customers to pay full price for HBO and Cinemax.

 

Based on info that has leaked out from AT&T/WarnerMedia, it looks like Cinemax may get subsumed into their upcoming "HBO Max" on-demand streaming service (which would make sense, given the name). Long-term, I doubt that HBO and Cinemax will survive as standalone services; instead, they'll be content brands that exist (alongside other WarnerMedia properties) under the broader HBO Max service. The good news is that AT&T is targeting a price of only $16-17/mo for this new service, which is barely more than the typical $15/mo price for just HBO.

 

I’m in the Philly area and the letter I received read that I was getting Hitz on demand but no mention of Cinemax going away. As of now I still have Cinemax but couldn’t find Hitz on the soon to be defunct XoD app.

 

Yeah. Don’t understand the separate branding between HBO and Cinemax. Never did.

 

They used to have somewhat distinct "personalities" back in the day (as in, the 80s/90s)...they kind of still do, if you remember the old-school versions, but they blend together a lot more these days.

 

This thread has nothing to do with Tivo.

 

I wonder if the HBO Max app will come to TiVO?

Now it does!

 

uhh. I presume most everyone knows about late night Cinemax.

 

you're referring to skinemax?

 

Well, wait a second. I thought the point was Hitz is another Comcast On Demand service we would not be able to receive on our Tivo receivers. Is that not correct - we can watch Hitz movies?

 

Its not making sense to me that Max needs to be dropped to add Hitz.

I am guessing what they are really doing is creating an instant subscriber base by swapping Hitz for Max, rather than have Hitz struggle to gain a subscribers base that would take severals to reach the current numbers of Max. Instant several million subscribers that more-or-less are HBO subscribers that had Max.

 

I don't know how you can think this is a good deal. I can subscribe to Netflix AND Hulu for less than the cost of HBO alone. HBO has very little to offer compared to these other services.

 

Much of the comparison is entirely subjective and relative to your particular requirements, but if you want to compare apples to apples, you can not say that Netflix is appreciably cheaper than HBO at their current rates.

I have Netflix Premium, which is even more expensive than HBO ($15.99 p.m. vs. $15.00). But the true cost comparison would use Netflix Standard @$12.99 since it is the minimum requirement for the same HD video resolution that you get on HBO. That's a difference of just $2.00.

Moreover, some MVPD's have offered various discounts for the premium channels. I am currently paying market rate for HBO on my Comcast subscription, but up until last year I was on a 24-month contract that got me HBO and Cinemax for just $1.00 p.m. each. And before that, I had HBO for free over several years via a recurring "customer courtesy." Even now, Comcast offers a published discount if you subscribe to three or more premiums @$10.00 apiece. And some bundle packages include HBO at no additional cost.

Further mucking up the cost comparison, Comcast is apparently including Netflix streaming (presumably at only the basic level, which is limited to one screen at a time and in SD only) in some of their new X1 subscription plans.

As far as the quality of original programming is concerned, HBO has been an industry leader for many, many years and is largely responsible for setting the standard beginning with The Sopranos and continuing to this day (it remains to be seen to what degree the new ownership at AT&T will bollix this up). Subjectively, Hulu offers absolutely nothing that interests me beyond what I get from other sources, but that's just me.

Bottom line: I maintain subscriptions to a lot of sources for movies and original programming (Netflix streaming and Blu-ray disc, UHD Blu-ray rental, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, Starz, and Comcast digital preferred channel lineup), and I consider HBO at the top of the heap for original programming.

 

The cheapest Hulu plan, which includes ads, costs $6. The cheapest Netflix plan, which is SD-only, is now $9. So together those cost $15. Although I subscribe to Hulu without ads for $12 and Netflix with 4K HDR for $16.

As for content in the upcoming HBO/WarnerMedia service that will reportedly be priced at $16-17, it is said to include all HBO content (movies and originals), plus Cinemax, plus decades of films, broadcast and cable TV series from the vaults of Warner Bros. movies and Warner Bros. TV (think Friends, Big Bang Theory, The West Wing, ER, etc). Beyond that, multiple other sources have indicated that the service will include current-season content from TBS, TNT and TruTV, as well as some content from DC Universe, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CNN (original documentaries and docuseries), plus cartoons from Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera. In addition, they will license some outside content to round out one or two content areas where they are somewhat weak, plus make new original series and films that will be exclusive to this streaming service and not exist on any cable TV channel. Announced titles so far include Love Life (Anna Kendrick), Tokyo Vice (Ansel Elgort) and a new series based on Dune, among others. The idea is to build around the core HBO library, which is smallish but known for high quality, and expand to cover a range of content types aimed at various tastes and demographics.

This new "HBO Max" service may not feature as many hours of content at any given point in time as Netflix does but, in my opinion, it will offer a better average quality of content than does Netflix. And keep in mind that once Netflix's deal with Disney expires this year, they will not have any deals in place to stream films from any major theatrical studios; HBO will still have recent movies from Warner Bros., Universal, Fox, and Summit. I expect that HBO Max (or whatever they name it) will also offer 4K HDR on select titles throughout the service, but that's just my hunch.

 

I appreciate the info (and speculation) you have been posting regarding HBO Max. Based on your descriptions, I am really looking forward to see it come to fruition.