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

[MongGrel]

I still always keep my HBO just for new series etc, and HBOGO.

I'f thought what they were going to release looked a bit limited, but even having HBOGO you can go back and see full series On Demand.

This also I guess.

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

 

[rsbennett00]

Could this finally be a way to stream newer movies? Netflix gets so few, it's mostly old stuff. I'm not the type to pay 3-4 bucks per movie but I'd do $20 a month. We all miss blockbuster.

 

[Ns1]

Could this finally be a way to stream newer movies? Netflix gets so few, it's mostly old stuff. I'm not the type to pay 3-4 bucks per movie but I'd do $20 a month. We all miss blockbuster.

uh, you don't have a redbox by you?

 

[rsbennett00]

uh, you don't have a redbox by you?

Well sure, but again that's like $1.50 per day so $45/mo... still way more expensive than BB ever was.

 

[Ns1]

Well sure, but again that's like $1.50 per day so $45/mo... still way more expensive than BB ever was.

wat?

the BB of my memory was $5-$10 for 5-7 day rentals with rape you up the ass late fees.

Pardon the obvious, but isn't the service you're looking for the OG disc rental netflix?

 

[phucheneh]

LOL @ people who think this is HBO championing their cause.

No. This is a company that sees the possibility for greater profits. That is all.

Cable subscriptions are waning and the combination of cheap rentals via Redbox or similar and services like Netflix has pretty much made their 'movie channel' status as useless as ever.

So what to do? Identify what you have that people want (i.e. GoT) and MIGHT pay for (instead of pirate) if you lower the barriers to entry (i.e. not require cable service).

It may work for them. But the consumer is still gonna get fucked, as I'm sure they'll want a minimum of three times what a subscription to Netflix instant costs. 'A la carte' cable will end up doing nothing but making you pay more to get less. Why would these companies have it any other way?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Honestly unless it's $15 or less I'm not buying. Im a cord cutter/cheapskate. And for the $15 I'd need the full channel just like you'd get with a cable subscription.

 

[TwiceOver]

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

If they don't have anything to offer other than their original content, then there's nothing to subscribe to for me. Their shows, for the most part, are available on amazon. I don't have enough of a hard on for their shows to want to see them immediately.

 

[rsbennett00]

wat?

the BB of my memory was $5-$10 for 5-7 day rentals with rape you up the ass late fees.

Pardon the obvious, but isn't the service you're looking for the OG disc rental netflix?

That probably was the non subscription blockbuster pricing. I always did the $15/mo for the 1 game out plan and they included movies for whatever reason. When the console market crashed, I just used it for movies only. Some days we did movie-a-thons and rented 5-7 movies in one day alone. Netflix can't compete with that.

 

[GrumpyMan]

They don't have enough content to charge more than $5.00 a month for me. No thanks, I'll just keep streaming all shows from Europe for free, my rabbit ears for sports and Netflix it.

 

[mizzou]

This is pretty huge...but what about the long term contract negotiations with cable providers? Could it be....cable might have to offer COMPETITIVE options!?

 

[DCal430]

Once Comcast takes over TW they will probably control about 60% of the households capable of receiving this, they could kill this without a second thought by just blocking it from their lines. Just watch Comcast will start throttling this down to nothing and demanding major payments from HBO to continue.

 

[Markbnj]

LOL @ people who think this is HBO championing their cause. No. This is a company that sees the possibility for greater profits. That is all.

Who cares why they see the writing on the wall? It's still a good thing, and it's not like the profit motivation is evil is it?

 

[squarecut1]

CBS to Offer Stand-Alone Web Subscription Service


CBS announced a new subscription Internet streaming service on Thursday that allows people to watch its live television programming and thousands of its current and past shows on demand without paying for a traditional TV subscription.

The new “CBS All Access” service, costing $5.99 a month, is the first time that a traditional broadcaster will make a near-continuous live feed of its local stations available over the web to non-pay-TV subscribers. At its start, the live stream will be available in 14 markets in the United States.

--------

Traditional TV is going away.

 

[K1052]

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...

*looks at the 25 page, 5 column per page, 6 point font catalog that I need to read with a jeweler's loupe of just WB film classics sitting on desk*

Yea. Content availability for HBO won't be much of a problem.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

The new “CBS All Access” service, costing $5.99 a month, is the first time that a traditional broadcaster will make a near-continuous live feed of its local stations available over the web to non-pay-TV subscribers. At its start, the live stream will be available in 14 markets in the United States.

Sweet, only $6 a month to watch something that is literally available for free. HBO is a premium cable channel; there's no legal way to watch it without forking over some dough. But I can watch CBS with a pair of rabbit ears. What's my incentive? Reruns of Big Bang Theory and NCIS? No thanks.

 

[K1052]

Once Comcast takes over TW they will probably control about 60% of the households capable of receiving this, they could kill this without a second thought by just blocking it from their lines. Just watch Comcast will start throttling this down to nothing and demanding major payments from HBO to continue.

The political impetus (regardless of the FCC chair's leanings) to reclassify broadband providers as common carriers would probably become unstoppable if they blocked it or even meaningfully throttled it. Look at the frothing just Verizon has managed to cause already.

 

[destrekor]

Sweet, only $6 a month to watch something that is literally available for free. HBO is a premium cable channel; there's no legal way to watch it without forking over some dough. But I can watch CBS with a pair of rabbit ears. What's my incentive? Reruns of Big Bang Theory and NCIS? No thanks.

I had a laugh reading about that CBS announcement. Seriously? They offer me nothing, a single publicly-free channel and it's back-catalog. Yay.

The HBO online-only package has some weight behind it, but if it costs more than $10/month, it's absolutely worthless. And it sure as hell better include Cinemax content as well, at least, if they ever intent to charge more than $10/month, it absolutely must include Cinemax. $10? I can take HBO only - but content better be available to view at the same time as new content on the cable channel. I think there's enough there that I'd pick up that channel.

Ideally, give me AMC, HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax without cable, and add Netflix and Amazon (nice bonus, the shipping alone is great)... I'd have everything I want. At the same time, I would very much miss ESPN for college sports, as well as the BigTen Network.

As it stands, our cable company doesn't have a deal for Showtime's streaming service. Thankfully they have a pretty fleshed out VOD service on the cable box. When I was on my own with my HTPC DVR, I missed out on that but I also didn't even have Showtime. Unfortunate times brought a small consolation.

I like watching shows I had never watched before (over the past two months I've been catching up on Homeland from the series premiere - I'm now current ), but I also like watching shows as they air. One more method of small talk and I don't have to run away from so many random sources of potential spoilers. I might not watch a show that night, but I'll record it and watch it the next night.

I don't know if I could cut the cord entirely. I can sacrifice to make ends meet, and as I am budgeting, I am seeing it might be necessary to go internet only and rely on Netflix and Amazon and other sources.

 

[Fingolfin269]

It has to be a good amount cheaper than what I pay DirecTV for HBO if I'm going to pay direct to HBO. Maybe $10 a month. Or if they come out with a 'season pass' for certain shows that might be even better depending on the cost.

 

[squarecut1]

CBS could not pay me to watch their channel, but the point is that the business model is finally changing. More and more networks will follow and people will be able to pay and watch what they want - instead of paying so much for a couple of channels they watch and the rest filler.

Live sports of course remains the big elephant in the room.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Call me when ESPN does this.

 

[Ns1]

Call me when ESPN does this.

lol, $50/month for 480p access, $90/month for 1080p.

 

[Ns1]

*looks at the 25 page, 5 column per page, 6 point font catalog that I need to read with a jeweler's loupe of just WB film classics sitting on desk*

Yea. Content availability for HBO won't be much of a problem.

I'm surprised it's only 25 pages. You must have an outdated copy =P

 

[zinfamous]

I'm surprised it's only 25 pages. You must have an outdated copy =P

But he's pretty much saying that it's 25 pages of microfiche stock.


hey--anyone remember microfiche?

 

[Ns1]

But he's pretty much saying that it's 25 pages of microfiche stock.


hey--anyone remember microfiche?

It's still used at our company