HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable • Hacker News Board

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#11

Post by uptown » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 4:24 PM UTC

jessedhillon wrote: post #8

uptown wrote: post #3

Seems like they're finally embracing the philosophy to fighting piracy from Kim Dotcom: How to stop piracy: 1. Create great content 2. Make it easy to buy 3. Same day global release 4. Works on any device 5. Fair price

Did you see something asserting point 4?

Maybe it won't work on your Android-powered toaster, but the devices they currently support are fairly comprehensive:

http://www.hbogo.com/#devices/

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#12

Post by koyote » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 4:35 PM UTC

antr wrote: post #5

What would really be groundbreaking is to allow non-US based viewers to subscribe to the service, without any type of geo fence. I would be happy to pay for the service as a European consumer. That would mean no more GoT torrenting for me.

I wonder how much money they are making selling their content to foreign networks vs. the amount they could make opening their online service up globally.

I am assuming that if they did open it up globally, they would not be able to sell the shows for as much money to other networks.

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#13

Post by antr » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 4:39 PM UTC

koyote wrote: post #12

antr wrote: post #5

What would really be groundbreaking is to allow non-US based viewers to subscribe to the service, without any type of geo fence. I would be happy to pay for the service as a European consumer. That would mean no more GoT torrenting for me.

I wonder how much money they are making selling their content to foreign networks vs. the amount they could make opening their online service up globally. I am assuming that if they did open it up globally, they would not be able to sell the shows for as much money to other networks.

I understand your comment, and you are probably right. I like to watch movies/tv shows in their original language, so not many would be open to pay to watch english only shows... I don't know.

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#14

Post by athenot » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 5:06 PM UTC

Cable TV contracts are typically very long (5-7 years) so I'm wondering if this is partly due to some existing contract coming up for renegotiation.

Anyhow, if HBO starts selling their content directly, that's going to give them some leverage for better terms with MSOs.

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#15

Post by bjelkeman-again » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 5:08 PM UTC

uptown wrote: post #11

jessedhillon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you see something asserting point 4?

Maybe it won't work on your Android-powered toaster, but the devices they currently support are fairly comprehensive: http://www.hbogo.com/#devices/

What is missing for me is Apple TV, but I suppose that cuts too deep into HBO's income.

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#16

Post by bjelkeman-again » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 5:10 PM UTC

antr wrote: post #5

What would really be groundbreaking is to allow non-US based viewers to subscribe to the service, without any type of geo fence. I would be happy to pay for the service as a European consumer. That would mean no more GoT torrenting for me.

They have started, but yes, it is still geofenced. In Sweden we can use http://hbonordic.se/

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#17

Post by balls187 » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 5:12 PM UTC

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #15

uptown wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it won't work on your Android-powered toaster, but the devices they currently support are fairly comprehensive: http://www.hbogo.com/#devices/

What is missing for me is Apple TV, but I suppose that cuts too deep into HBO's income.

Apple TV is supported by HBO Go.

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#18

Post by themoonbus » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 5:14 PM UTC

Glad to hear it.

For the time being, for anyone with Amazon Prime, the HBO collection isn't bad: http://www.amazon.com/b?node=9097393011

It's not nearly as complete or up-to-date as HBO go of course, but it has lot of the most popular shows.

We have HBO go and actually use Amazon prime to watch HBO shows since Comcast has yet to support logging into HBO go on PS3.

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#19

Post by gnud » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 5:14 PM UTC

jessedhillon wrote: post #8

uptown wrote: post #3

Seems like they're finally embracing the philosophy to fighting piracy from Kim Dotcom: How to stop piracy: 1. Create great content 2. Make it easy to buy 3. Same day global release 4. Works on any device 5. Fair price

Did you see something asserting point 4?

Well,

  To access HBO GO℠, you must reside within the fifty states of the United States of America.

Re: HBO is finally going to let you watch its shows without cable

#20

Post by maibaum » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 5:14 PM UTC

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #15

uptown wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it won't work on your Android-powered toaster, but the devices they currently support are fairly comprehensive: http://www.hbogo.com/#devices/

What is missing for me is Apple TV, but I suppose that cuts too deep into HBO's income.

Apple TV supports HBO Go.

https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/06/19HBO-GO-WatchESPN-...