One Small Step - HBO starts cutting the cord

Hard to say, exactly. HBO has compelling content, so it's definitely worth paying for, even though I also have Netflix. I have yet to find a pay service that offers all the content I want, but it's a mix. HBO's online presence offers big movies and good performance, but fewer places to watch it and selections that are more time-sensitive. Netflix has fewer recent and big-name releases, but their TV selections are excellent. They also have great variety, although their interface makes it very hard to find stuff, sometimes.

If I had to choose one over the other, I'd probably still vote for Netflix, but that's because of being able to run it on more clients (my Nook tablet, for example) and more diverse content.

 

Definitely not.

1. Unless the content can be downloaded to my video server for playback where and when I choose, I am uninterested.

2. Unless there are some fairly large scale changes in technology which allows greater bandwidth and performance to be delivered to us at the same or lower prices than we have today, I am uninterested (because the performance is too poor).

3. Unless this product is at a minimum as good as CATV deployed services (around 19 Mbps MPEG-II or perhaps 10 Mbps h.264) or perhaps much better, I am uninterested.

4. Unless the UI for the delivery of the product integrates seamlesly with the one I use for viewing other videos (bascilaly this means a plug-in for vidmgr on the Tivo), I am uninterested.

5. Unless the content can be filtered automatically so I don't have to wade through mountians of garbage to find the 5% or so of the videos in which I might ever be interested, I am uninterested.

 

Ditto.

I'm not too worried about #2 as that is in the hands of the cable providers.

 

Advertisements

By which I assume you mean you aren't worried about it being in any danger of getting better.

 

This must be driving cable companies crazy. HBO is a reason why some people "need" cable. If ESPN and cable news networks do the same thing, cable subscribers will leave in droves.

 

From I read it sound like it only going to be available in areas where HBO is NOT being officer by a cable provider AND where HBO can compete with Netflix. I do not see this coming any city in the US or Canada. Sorry OTA fans no HBO for you.

 

I suspect not, but if they do, all they have to do to make up for the lost revenue is increase the cost of Broadband Internet Service, even asuming Johncv's post above is mistaken (of which I have no evidence).

 

An HBO spokesman made clear that this launch does not reflect a strategic change for the company in any of its current markets. "Each market is unique and HBO approaches each one with what we consider to believe the best business model specific to that territory."

I guess no body saw this?

 

Some HBO programming is already available for free online. HBO want's to add some of those customers. It will probably be cheaper to pay for online HBO and eliminate the premium tier of cable service. It will be much cheaper to add a roku or other set top box to multiple rooms without paying for a whole home dvr, multiple cable boxes or additional outlet fees.

 

Never going to happen in the USA.

 

No one in the thread so far != nobody. Definitely read this on Gizmodo.

 

No, it is a NON-step as far as the US. HBO makes and will make more money via its presence on MVPD's, and HBO aint gonna kill that bread and butter ANYTIME soon. If one wants HBO to GO, all they have to do is pay the monthly fee--VIA MVPD subscription, and this is how HBO makes money with its content while others just can't get the economics to work.

I know that on Dish, for example, you can subscribe to a Premium (HBO) ONLY without any other programming or tier of programming. To be clear, that is if you OWN your STB or have completed your commitment period if you got the system and STB's and other upgrades for FREE or discounted flat rate. But it is one way to get HBO to Go subscribing to HBO ONLY pretty much as if HBO offered To GO to non-subscribers.

What is being done in the Nordic area is ONLY because HBO does not need to protects its value and bread and butter with an MVPD.

 

That's the way I see it. Eventually they will to conform.

 

... in a region they don't have a large penetration in and therefore nothing to loose. Yawn.

Don't hold your breath waiting for this in the good 'ol US of A any time soon

 

They are open to doing it in market's where they aren't otherwise making money.

It's obvious they know how to do streaming. That's not interesting or novel. Deploying a streaming model in area's they are already entrenched without ticking off their current partners (i.e. cable companies) is gong to be the trick.

At this point waiting for an existing player like HBO to be "innovative" is like wishing for a leopard to change his spots to stripes. It's going to be an "outsider" like Netflix, Amazon or Apple that drives change, not incumbents like Comcast or HBO.

Those people would be "not grounded in reality". Good luck with that!