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HBO To Offer Online Streaming Without TV Subscription

An anonymous reader writes By now, everyone not living in total isolation knows that HBO has announced plans to offer content streaming in 2015 with no TV subscription requirements. Many wonder what took HBO so long to make this transition. Some speculate that the growing unpopularity of ISP giants has shifted bargaining power in HBO's favor. Others say that it's purely maths; there are more cord-cutters and more people willing to shell out money for specific content, as evidenced by Netflix surpassing HBO in earnings this year "despite Netflix having a smaller customer base". Whatever the reason, all are expecting this development to induce "more content providers to make their shows more readily available online".

7 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. finally by dasacc22 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    obligatory theoatmeal, http://theoatmeal.com/comics/g...

    A large portion of what I watch actually happens to come from HBO, but regardless I end up downloading the content like anything else. Classic example, I purchase a season of the Vikings from google play store in advance b/c I do not own cable but would like to watch the show legally (even a day late from when it aired). I get a notification that a new episode is available. I click play "Last week on Vik...." stream breaks. Hit replay, "Last wee...." stream breaks. Hit replay, "Last week on ..."stream breaks. Download episode via bittorrent in 3 1/2 minutes and enjoy.

    I'm happy to pay for content, but make that shit work.

  2. Re:I am not alone when I say.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They will give you a usable DRM container on every major platform, dongle and OS. They will not remove DRM, because the studios they license films from demand it.

    But if you expect to watch content on BeOS you're shit out of luck.

  3. Re:Bad news for ESPN by hibiki_r · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ESPN has plenty of people that are willing to give them much more than $7 a month for their content: There is an entire demographic that uses TV just to watch sports.
    The ones that are really in trouble are smaller channels that still have some real expenses. Think of someone like AMC, that justifies its existence due to a relatively small number of valuable content they finance themselves, while the rest is filler. Would people really subscribe to the channel if all they wanted as 20 hours of television a year?

  4. Re:I am not alone when I say.... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just buy a Chromecast and deal with it. I stopped caring about DRMed video a long time ago. All I care about is that I can watch Netflix with my tablet as a remote control. If HBO works on Chromecast, I'll be the first guy in line to buy a subscription.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  5. Re:Heh Heh pain for Comcast and Time Warner by praxis · · Score: 3, Insightful

    HBO $20/month tv + straming

    In my market for me to subscribe to HBO it costs somewhere north of $130 a month, though they can't actually tell me how much before selling it to me. Of course, I would get all sorts of other channels, but if I only want HBO, that's the cheapest I can get it today. That's why HBO selling directly to me might actually get money out of me. HBO is not worth $130 a month to me.

    Comcast’s current monthly service charges for Digital Premier TV, ranges based on area, from $127.99 to $143.49 (pricing subject to change).

  6. Not quite. by asylumx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From what I've read, HBO is considering offering its service as an add-on for you ISP (who is often-times also your cable company). So, while this is slightly better, it's actually bad news because it's entirely possible and probable that ISPs will start bundling gold and platinum packages with HBO, Netflix, Hulu, whatever.

    I don't know, I guess I could just see this going really badly even though it sounds like a good thing at the moment.

  7. Re:Bad news for ESPN by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have HBO because it's cheaper to have it with the comcast bundle than to not have it for the next 18 months. I would never ever pay for it.

    I have Netflix because it used to seriously rock and it still rocks.

    But all the companies are slicing and dicing the pool of shows and movies smaller and smaller and still want $10 to $15 each.

    A huge unlimited pool of movies at $12 was great.

    17 limited pools of movies and shows at $12 each is going to suck and not be worth it.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.