dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
129
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Netflix is not HBO

Hastings need not flatter himself.

People buy Netflix streaming because it is cheap, and DVD delivery for esoteric choices. HBO offers actual premium content.

I'm not sure why Karl thinks HBO "has to" offer a standalone streaming product, without addressing how much more they'd have to pay for the rights to content.

Would consumers pay $40+/month for standalone HBO?

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

said by elray:

Would consumers pay $40+/month for standalone HBO?

Of course not. HBO doesn't make that much from a regular cable subscriber, so they shouldn't expect to quadruple their take just because of a different delivery system.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

1 recommendation

jmn1207 to elray

Premium Member

to elray
I could watch everything worth streaming on HBO in a couple of months, then cancel my subscription until the next season's series or more interesting movies were made available. In fact, if my HBO was not bundled into my Comcast service, I'd purchase an Apple TV device and only subscribe to HBO whenever I had the time available to blast through any shows I wanted to catch. (if Comcast were not such enormous dicks, I could already stream HBO Go on my wonderful Roku 3 )

This is part of the reason that HBO won't make a standalone product available. They charge about $40 for a single season of one of their popular series to stream in HD quality. Most people could watch far more than $40 worth of programming in a single month. I mean, Game of Thrones season 2 is $38.99 at Vudu for the HD version, and it is only ten 50-minute shows.

HBO needs the cable TV subscribers to make their business successful. Without this, any standalone model would surely cannibalize their existing business.
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND
Asus RT-AC68
Ubiquiti NSM5

travelguy to morbo

Member

to morbo
said by morbo:

HBO doesn't make that much from a regular cable subscriber, so they shouldn't expect to quadruple their take just because of a different delivery system.

Ahh grasshopper - you have much to learn. Today's finance wizzkids are all taught to value price. If it is worth something to you to be able to watch on a mobile device, you pay. Makes no difference that you pay less for delivery over a cable, or indeed, that you already pay for cable delivery.
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray to morbo

Member

to morbo
Its not just a different delivery system, its on-demand, higher-resolution, and of course, subject to interception. Plus, they will be paying something for the bandwidth on your behalf.

HBO doesn't have the rights to distribute their current premium content via IP streaming - they will be paying a much higher price for it, which will be reflected in the cost of "standalone".

The current pricing model is an add-on to cable. Standalone will definitely be more costly.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

said by elray:

The current pricing model is an add-on to cable. Standalone will definitely be more costly.

And that's why HBO will not survive in the long run. Sure, HBO may be more costly alone rather than bundled, but it won't be quadruple the cost. That is suicide.
nfotiu
join:2009-01-25

nfotiu to travelguy

Member

to travelguy
I love when people make condescending posts and have no idea what they are talking about. Current HBO subscriptions already give away free access to hbo-go on all sorts of connected and mobile devices.
nfotiu

nfotiu to jmn1207

Member

to jmn1207
How is that any different than now? HBO is not usually bundled except as 3 month free offers, and the most expensive all-channel bundles. HBO is generally offered a la carte, and I would imagine have heavy cancellations on the days that follow popular series finales.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to elray

Member

to elray
said by elray:

Hastings need not flatter himself.

People buy Netflix streaming because it is cheap, and DVD delivery for esoteric choices. HBO offers actual premium content.

I'm not sure why Karl thinks HBO "has to" offer a standalone streaming product, without addressing how much more they'd have to pay for the rights to content.

Would consumers pay $40+/month for standalone HBO?

No reason for HBOGo standalone to be more than regular HBO. $15 a month. Since most ISPs are also video providers HBO can do the billing through them and give them a cut. So cable companies do not lose revenue.

why offer it stand alone? So people that choose to cu the cord can access HBO content without resorting to piracy.
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND

travelguy to nfotiu

Member

to nfotiu
If you are referring to the use of the term "grasshopper," you might want to check out the movie King Fu...
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to elray

Member

to elray
Last time I checked Netflix has like 6+ premium shows (ones they produced themselves), so not sure what you are smoking.

Outside of the few good shows are documentaries and old movies where you could stream or just ignore.

If say I like GOT and that's it, I could just buy on itunes, etc for $40. Verizon would charge me $18 a month for the privilege.

OR I just subscribe for a month, binge, and then quit. This isn't rocket science.

If you MUST see a show the next day, then pay. I can easily wait two years when a show comes to Netflix before watching it, and HBO is no different.

I see little reason why someone would subscribe to HBO year round UNLESS they are bundled or some discount scheme to lessen the cost, otherwise the value is tenuous.

HBO is already an add-on, so not sure why they would charge $40 a month, but it would have to be higher than cable costs, lest they would disrupt their channel model. Going direct involves customer service, marketing, support, payment, etc. These are all things their current channel (cable) does for them.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to nfotiu

Member

to nfotiu
said by nfotiu:

I love when people make condescending posts and have no idea what they are talking about. Current HBO subscriptions already give away free access to hbo-go on all sorts of connected and mobile devices.

exactly if you already have cable TV and HBO then HBOGo is FREE. So selling HBOGo by itself is just found money. The people paying for HBOPGO by itself is for people that don't have cable. Forcing these people to pay $100 a month for HBO just to get HBOGo isn't going to work. They'll just do without or pirate. HBO could do the billing through he cable companies since all cable companies are ISPs anyway and they cold split the money. win-win.
88615298

88615298 (banned) to jmn1207

Member

to jmn1207
But what you are missing is that many people will simply pirate HBO shows if there only alternatives are paying 4100a month through cable o waiting a year for the previous season of their favorite HBO show. It's like HBO and cable companies want to deny the existence of the internet. Should people pirate? nope. But refuse to take their money and many will.
88615298

88615298 (banned) to elefante72

Member

to elefante72
said by elefante72:

If say I like GOT and that's it, I could just buy on itunes, etc for $40. Verizon would charge me $18 a month for the privilege.

One big problem. Season 3 ended over 4 months ago. Still not available on ITunes won't be for another 5 months. Who wants to wait almost a year? Sorry many are going to just torrent it. not because they wouldn't pay for it but because HBO is totally moronic about how it offers it's content. If I don't have cable but still want to see last night's episode of The Walking Dead, guess what, I can go on ITunes or Amazon and buy that episode TODAY. One is much less inclined to pirate when they aren't forced to wait a year.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

jmn1207 to nfotiu

Premium Member

to nfotiu
said by nfotiu:

How is that any different than now? HBO is not usually bundled except as 3 month free offers, and the most expensive all-channel bundles. HBO is generally offered a la carte, and I would imagine have heavy cancellations on the days that follow popular series finales.

Yes, you are correct, it really isn't much different now, unless Comcast and other ISPs only allow HBO Go to work with accounts that are locked into a contract, and not paying a-la-carte.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour to nfotiu

Member

to nfotiu
said by nfotiu:

I love when people make condescending posts and have no idea what they are talking about.

I love it when people completely miss the point.
said by nfotiu:

Current HBO subscriptions already give away free access to hbo-go on all sorts of connected and mobile devices.

Important bit bolded.

I guarantee you that few people are going to pay $xx/month for a cable package, just so they can get HBO, just so they can get HBOgo "for free" on their mobile devices.

Jim
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray to morbo

Member

to morbo
HBO costs close to $20/month as an add-on.

$40 is a mere doubling.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

»hbowatch.com/how-much-do ··· se-days/
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Thanks for illustrating my point.

HBO costs $18/month on Dish, Directv, $19 on Verizon and $20 on Comcast before taxes and franchise fees.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned) to elray

Member

to elray
said by elray:

Would consumers pay $40+/month for standalone HBO?

I am willing to pay $0/month for HBO. Yar har har.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo to elray

Member

to elray
$16/month average. " A quick average of the six prices comes to about $16 if you're counting."
smcallah
join:2004-08-05
Home

smcallah to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
No, it's not "just found money." Because HBO would face the possibility of cable, satellite, and telcoTV companies wanting to pay less for HBO since people could now watch HBO without a cable subscription, weakening cable, satellite, and telcoTV companies' positions. And HBOgo wouldn't only be for people without TV service, as people paying for HBO would also want to not subscribe to TV directly.

If it was as easy as you imply, they'd already do it. Obviously they know they'd take in less money as they start having to discount the providers for no longer being exclusive there. Not to mention having to invest money in CDN infrastructure to support an influx of streaming only customers.

And while all cable companies may be ISPs, not all ISPs are TV providers, nor are all TV providers ISP's. So who shares the money with HBO when a Comcast customer drops HBO and has CenturyLink as their ISP to stream HBOgo? That is just not scalable.
smcallah

smcallah to morbo

Member

to morbo
And $16 quadrupled is $64, not $40.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

It's 2.5 times at the average rate. It's 3-4 times at promotional rates. My point is that even doubling the price for a standalone product is a complete joke. If HBO wants to survive, they have to figure out how to attract customers in the new landscape.
smcallah
join:2004-08-05
Home

smcallah to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
The majority will not pirate though. And as soon as the majority pirates something, they will no longer have something to pirate.
smcallah

smcallah to 88615298

Member

to 88615298
So how does DirecTV and Dish benefit from losing HBO subscribers in that model? Cable companies aren't the only TV providers that provide HBO.

And streaming is a much different model than broadcast TV. I think we all know that, but I had to say it.

HBO would have to up its CDN bandwidth to account for streaming only customers, that costs money. They would have to account for licensing agreements for content that is stream only.

They would also have to account for lost revenue from iTunes and other services where they charge upwards for $40 for 1 season of a show.

Do you think they'd go from making $40 for one season of a show to only $15/month for someone to be able to stream anything anytime they want?

If they offer a standalone HBOgo, it will not be the same HBOgo that TV subscribers get.