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

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

#31

Post by paulannesley »

DigitalSea wrote: post #4

It is about damn time. Welcome to the present, HBO. I am assuming this move is in part to the massively high piracy rate for Game of Thrones episodes. As an Australian resident with no real access to current episodes of Game of Thrones without getting cable TV, I hope they do come through on delivering the service overseas (especially Australia), because if the price is right, I will gladly pay for HD episodes of Gam…

> As an Australian resident with no real access to current episodes of Game of Thrones without getting cable TV …

That's the same situation as USA.

Australia actually briefly had it better than USA, with the AU iTunes store releasing HBO shows like GoT within a day or two of their USA cable release. But then HBO + Foxtel broke that.

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

#32

Post by daigoba66 »

Now this just needs to happen with other TV networks.

For example, I'd love to pay AMC Networks[0], A&E Networks[1], or NBC Universal[2] a nominal monthly fee to access their catalogs on-demand.

While it's true that these networks stream some of their current shows online, the players and streaming experience is usually very terrible.

That's how I want to the future to be: everything is like Netflix or HBO-sans-cable. Maybe even eliminate, or at least reduce commercials.

And it's not exactly a-la-carte, because most channels aren't individual networks. And most shows are perfectly suited for on-demand viewing. There are very few things I watch that are actually "broadcast" live (news and sports are pretty much it). All I'm suggesting is that we bypass the cable companies and pay the publishers directly for content. I'd pay good money to an Internet Service Provider who gives me a fast and stable connection to the publisher's servers.

The flip side of all this choice is that it's no longer dead-simple for consumers. It sure is convenient to simply pay Comcast $100 a month and they take care of getting all of these networks and publishers into my home in one box with one remote control. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon apps are fairly ubiquitous on pretty much every platform including built right into many TVs. I doubt traditional TV networks want to invest in that technology.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Networks

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%26E_Networks

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBCUniversal_Cable

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

#33

Post by HelloMcFly »

untothebreach wrote: post #2

I ditched cable a while ago, but wasn't willing to give up watching some HBO shows, so I convinced myself that pirating them was 'ok,' since that was 'the only for me to get them.' I later realized that my attitude was hypocritical, that I just wanted to have my cake and eat it too. I stopped pirating their shows then, and have definitely missed some of them. So I am excited about this, and will subscribe as soon as…

I've found that it's not terribly difficult to wait for the shows to come to Amazon Instant. For a bit I pirated premium channel content on release and bought it on Amazon Instant after the fact. I eventually realized that waiting really didn't impact my enjoyment.

I do still supplement my NBA League Pass with viewing of unauthorized streams for games that are not aired on League Pass.

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

#34

Post by kenrikm »

geophile wrote: post #26

HBO has enough good content that I keep subscribing to cable to get it. I have zero interest in sports (ESPN). So for me, this is the end of my cable subscription. This is the beginning of the end for cable. And hopefully also for propaganda stations like Fox News.

"This is the beginning of the end for cable. And hopefully also for propaganda stations like Fox News and MSNBC."

Fixed.

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

#35

Post by Erwin »

gnud wrote: post #19
jessedhillon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

HBO Nordic covers all of Scandinavia (and has been around for more than a year). They started out with an expensive monthly and less expensive 6-month subscription but have now a uniform monthly price of around USD 14/month. It's usable from various devices and supported TVs (e.g. newer Samsung series). http://hbonordic.com/how-to-watch-hbo

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

#36

Post by bkeroack »

daigoba66 wrote: post #32

Now this just needs to happen with other TV networks. For example, I'd love to pay AMC Networks[0], A&E Networks[1], or NBC Universal[2] a nominal monthly fee to access their catalogs on-demand. While it's true that these networks stream some of their current shows online, the players and streaming experience is usually very terrible. That's how I want to the future to be: everything is like Netflix or HBO-sans-cable…

The aggregate of all these fees (plus Netflix, Amazon, etc) will likely approach or exceed the cost of a typical cable subscription.

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

#37

Post by uptown »

gnud wrote: post #19
jessedhillon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

From the linked article:

"This service will be offered in the United States and there are also plans to bring it overseas."

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

#38

Post by Istof »

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

> 4. Works on any device

that probably means no DRM

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

#40

Post by eric_cc »

rogerbinns wrote: post #39

Hopefully they will decide not to be yet another island and also work with Netflix. I'd be perfectly happy paying the subscription fee to Netflix and being able to see the content through the existing Netflix apps I have everywhere.

Hopefully they DO decide to be yet another island. Otherwise, services like Netflix will turn into cable. I have no problem using AppleTV/Roku browsing to the service I want.
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