HBO will soon let you watch their stuff without a cable subscription

[purbeast0]

It would be better for them financially if people can get interested in their shows in the first place. For me, GoT was somewhat bearable in binge watching mode - the part of which I watched that way. The part I watched by the installment method, I hated it. Could not stand it.

Plus they have a huge back catalog with shows like The Wire, Sopranos, Six Feet Under and so on. There is a lot of material there to have people keep paying. There are a lot of people who have never watched HBO shows. Unless of course someone is watching 8 hours of TV per day.

they already offer the bold to people who are paying for HBO via HBO GO. you can stream all of that with their current model. it would make zero sense for them to release all episodes of a season at once instead of over a time period, for financial reasons.

you definitely sound like the "internet crybabies" that were mentioned a few posts prior.

 

[zinfamous]

This. Netflix has all of its other offerings to keep customers around, HBO doesn't really have the same luxury unless they plan to diversify.

Don't forget HBO still provides the same essential content that they first provided: feature presentations. You will also have access to their monthly rotation of feature films, in-studio documentary productions (which are always quite good), comedy specials....all on top of their now-impressive backlog of HBO-produced content.

It's not like they went the route of MTV....

 

[Atomic Playboy]

It would be better for them financially if people can get interested in their shows in the first place. For me, GoT was somewhat bearable in binge watching mode - the part of which I watched that way. The part I watched by the installment method, I hated it. Could not stand it.

Plus they have a huge back catalog with shows like The Wire, Sopranos, Six Feet Under and so on. There is a lot of material there to have people keep paying. There are a lot of people who have never watched HBO shows. Unless of course someone is watching 8 hours of TV per day.

Right, but from a cost-benefit analysis perspective, if I keep the weekly release schedule intact, I get three months of subscriptions from people who want to watch as it happens, and I get one month from binge-watchers after the show has aired every episode; win/win. The only financial incentive that would trump that is if there were a significant portion of binge-watchers who would not watch the show even if they could binge-watch at the completion of its run AND those people outnumbered the weekly watchers to make up for the potential lost revenue of two extra months of subscription (not to mention the binge-watchers willing to hold off until the show's completion). I'm guessing that's not the case, which means that particular market segment isn't worth catering to at the expense of lots of revenue.

 

[squarecut1]

they already offer the bold to people who are paying for HBO via HBO GO. you can stream all of that with their current model. it would make zero sense for them to release all episodes of a season at once instead of over a time period, for financial reasons.

you definitely sound like the "internet crybabies" that were mentioned a few posts prior.

Like I said, a LOT of people have never had HBO. So your point about HBOGO is not relevant.

With a standalone, divorced from cable service, they would have a lot more new subscribers.

This sounds like the music companies who were forever stuck in the "album model" with one or two good tracks and the rest filler. We know what happened to that. Same will be the case with TV. The current model was useful once. Now with the merging of internet and TV and the various gadgets , it is no longer relevant.

 

[purbeast0]

Like I said, a LOT of people have never had HBO. So your point about HBOGO is not relevant.

With a standalone, divorced from cable service, they would have a lot more new subscribers.

This sounds like the music companies who were forever stuck in the "album model" with one or two good tracks and the rest filler. We know what happened to that. Same will be the case with TV. The current model was useful once. Now with the merging of internet and TV and the various gadgets , it is no longer relevant.

well i'm assuming that the standalone HBO will also include HBOGO since that is just part of their service.

your comparison to music makes no sense, because again, when signed up to HBO, you have access to every single episode of every HBO show at your fingertips.

you can "get interested" in game of thrones without having to watch every new episode week to week. subscribe to HBO and watch all of season 1 in a day. if you like it, watch the next seasons over the next few days in anticipation of the spring time coming around for the next season.

 

[lupi]

Most streaming I've seen has been crappy quality compared to hardwired. Not in any hurry to shift until the infastructure gets its head out of the ass.

 

[irishScott]

Most streaming I've seen has been crappy quality compared to hardwired. Not in any hurry to shift until the infastructure gets its head out of the ass.

Meh, I'll take a mild degradation in quality in exchange for a 90% price cut. I stream HD over netflix all the time and I think it looks fine. Assuming HBOGo is planning to compete, they should step up to at least that level.

 

[purbeast0]

Most streaming I've seen has been crappy quality compared to hardwired. Not in any hurry to shift until the infastructure gets its head out of the ass.

i was streaming GoT on my 120" screen and it's definitely noticeably not as good quality as a 1080p bluray (as it shouldn't be), but someone like my wife wouldn't be able to tell the difference. it looked better than i expected it to though.

 

[Markbnj]

Most streaming I've seen has been crappy quality compared to hardwired. Not in any hurry to shift until the infastructure gets its head out of the ass.

Comcast's best HD quality exceeds Netflix's best HD quality, but not by enough to matter in my book.

 

[KeithP]

While this is good news I bet there will be limitations. First, it won't have the same content as the cable channel and I am also betting there will be a delay with some content (like the Amazon prime deal) before it becomes available. Finally, I am guessing at least $19.95 per month, maybe $5 to $10 more.

It is a nice first step but when details are announced we will be disappointed.

-KeithP

 

[SunnyD]

Predictions:

Priced not to compete.
Will apply to your content caps (if applicable).

 

[Insomniator]

i was streaming GoT on my 120" screen and it's definitely noticeably not as good quality as a 1080p bluray (as it shouldn't be), but someone like my wife wouldn't be able to tell the difference. it looked better than i expected it to though.

Yeah I wonder what a straight up blu ray would like like on my 50" plasma vs Netflix/HBOGO streaming (assuming ideal conditions). The blu ray would have to look pretttttty damn good for me to consider actually purchasing blu rays for 100's of dollars.

 

[irishScott]

Yeah I wonder what a straight up blu ray would like like on my 50" plasma vs Netflix/HBOGO streaming (assuming ideal conditions). The blu ray would have to look pretttttty damn good for me to consider actually purchasing blu rays for 100's of dollars.

Well the point of owning a physical copy of anything is more the guarantee of viewability. Everything on every streaming service is subject to the whim of the copyright holder; plenty of people (including myself) have had the experience of getting halfway through a TV series on Netflix and then the series winking out of existence because the license expired. Owning a physical copy ensures that you can watch it whenever you want for years to come.

 

[Ns1]

Owning a physical copy ensures that you can watch it whenever you want for years to come.

yeah like those first gen bluray's, or laserdiscs, or...

 

[HN]

^^ "for years", not "forever"

 

[Crow550]

It will most likely have a discounted price the first year then go up.

Maybe $20 then up to $30 lol!

Well see when it comes out....

You know what they say if it sounds too good to be true....

Who knows they might surprise us. Well just have to see what they decide on....

 

[KeithTalent]

Well the point of owning a physical copy of anything is more the guarantee of viewability. Everything on every streaming service is subject to the whim of the copyright holder; plenty of people (including myself) have had the experience of getting halfway through a TV series on Netflix and then the series winking out of existence because the license expired. Owning a physical copy ensures that you can watch it whenever you want for years to come.

Well unless this happens, like it has to several of the discs I own: http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3317-exchanging-defective-discs

Thankfully they are doing an exchange, but it's still annoying.

KT

 

[squarecut1]

Most people would still prefer Netflix, because it has quantity. HBO has quality

 

[Ns1]

Most people would still prefer Netflix, because it has quantity. HBO has quality

HBO could just start negotiations with sister company WB and get some content real quick.

 

[TwiceOver]

Depends on the content. I've never used HBO GO so I don't know what is currently available to users. I doubt they'll be able to secure the rights to stream many of the movies they show on the cable sub.

 

[Ns1]

Depends on the content. I've never used HBO GO so I don't know what is currently available to users. I doubt they'll be able to secure the rights to stream many of the movies they show on the cable sub.

As long as WB has the rights, HBO could have the rights. I mean theoretically WB could license HBO content specifically for internet and not for pay tv.

See: WB Archives, most popular TV shows...

 

[Crow550]

HBO may use it's power to knock Netflix down and then raise rates....

If HBO could actually put a hurt on Netflix.... Kinda doubt it at this point....

 

[purbeast0]

Depends on the content. I've never used HBO GO so I don't know what is currently available to users. I doubt they'll be able to secure the rights to stream many of the movies they show on the cable sub.

every single HBO show is on HBO GO. not sure about movies though.

 

[Slew Foot]

Comcast just shat themselves.

Time to enforce some "net neutrality"

 

[squarecut1]

I am sure they would not price it much higher than Netflix, their main competition

Don't think the cable tv has much to worry about though. A lot of people love having those 536 channels