Android, Chromecast To Get HBO Now

An anonymous reader writes: Google's I/O 2015 conference opened with a surprise announcement: that Chromecast, Android TV, and other Android devices will soon be able to offer HBO Now. "The announcement marks the end of a 7-week exclusive that Apple had on HBO's stand-alone streaming and on-demand video service," reports Digital Trends, and it also further weakens the exclusivity of cable TV packages. "Traditional TV subscriptions are slowly starting to slip," one newspaper reports, "as more people watch online video." Other online streaming sites are already confronting the popularity of HBO's "Game of Thrones" series, with Netflix already experiencing a 33% dip in their online traffic during the new season's online premiere and Amazon rushing to discount their "Game of Thrones" graphic novels, and the turmoil seems to be continuing in the online video space. "Shortly after the premier of the new season, HBO Now seems to have taken the top spot when it comes to internet traffic," reports one technology site, "causing a huge dent in Netflix's attempt to make it to the top."

Comments

data caps

[Anonymous Coward]

still no idea how comcast et.al. can be serious about data caps when this shift happens. people are used to letting their TV's sit all day on some random channel. if you do that with IPTV you're going to blow by 250GB or whatever in a week or so. caps are totally infeasible.

Re:data caps

[jeffmflanagan]

Or people just won't be able to leave Internet TV on in the background all day. All the services I use ask me if I'm still watching at least every couple of hours, so it seems that they want to avoid unnecessary use.

Caps will have to go up, but ISPs and video services do not want people to use their bandwidth streaming 1080p video 24/7 to have something on in the background, so don't expect them to go away.

Surprise?

[drhamad]

How is this a surprise announcement? We knew Apple only had it as an exclusive for a few weeks.

Good Grief

[cahuenga]

a 33% dip in their online traffic

Horseshit. Netflix traffic dipped down to a 33% share. You really can't screw up a writeup much worse than that.

Re:Good Grief

[ITRambo]

According to the original article Netflix traffic was up slightly. "Overall in the full report, Netflix remained the clear leader on North American fixed networks (as opposed to mobile) during peak usage times, up slightly to 36.5 percent of downstream traffic, with YouTube again a distant second at 15.6 percent." Do you have a link that shows the number of subscribers leaving Netflix? It sure looks like they're doing just fine based on the linked report.

$15/month for one channel?

[93 Escort Wagon]

Sure, it's HBO, and sure they have some stellar in-house programming; but it's one channel. People who are dumping their $60/month (and up!) cable TV plans aren't likely to pay $15 for one channel. Heck, Netflix is under $10. Even the old baboons that run Hulu don't try to charge that much for Plus...

If you're on Comcast's lowest tier TV-included package - "Internet Plus" - HBO is a free add-on. Right now we're paying ~ $70/month total for internet plus Cable TV (The TV channels include HD and are basically a throw-in, it's how Comcast tries to hide how many of its customers don't want cable TV anymore). I can't imagine paying $15 for any single channel.

Re:$15/month for one channel?

[Voyager529]

Sure, it's HBO, and sure they have some stellar in-house programming; but it's one channel. People who are dumping their $60/month (and up!) cable TV plans aren't likely to pay $15 for one channel.

Two genuine questions here. First, if a disproportionate reason why a person has cable at all is for HBO, then $15/month is less than what they're paying for HBO + everything else, so it may well be worth it. How many users fit this particular category?

Second, how much of HBO's back catalog is included? The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and Dead Like Me are all still highly regarded series that have a good amount of rewatch value. HBO has also produced a wide array of well produced documentaries. Yes, everyone says "zomg Game of Thrones and True Blood!!11" because they're trendy at the moment, but if HBO Go gives on-demand access to virtually every piece of HBO produced content, in 1080[i/p]...that may well be a worthwhile number.

Bonus round: Once all the major draws have been binge watched over the next year, the dropoff rate will likely be noticeable, for the very reason you specify.

Re:$15/month for one channel?

[93 Escort Wagon]

Two genuine questions here. First, if a disproportionate reason why a person has cable at all is for HBO, then $15/month is less than what they're paying for HBO + everything else, so it may well be worth it. How many users fit this particular category?

Admittedly that is a very good question. I would not think it's a large number, but then I am not in that group so of course I assume most people are like me rather than "them"! That's been proven demonstrably wrong on many occasions in the past, though...

Second, how much of HBO's back catalog is included? ...

I think most of it is, actually - but you incidentally hit on a different point. HBO GO (a different product than HBO NOW, which is what was being discussed here) also has the same access to the entire HBO back catalog - and anyone that has HBO (including people like me that get HBO basically for free) still get access to HBO GO! It'll be interesting to see how they differentiate the products in the future.