HBO Standalone Streaming Service 'HBO Now' To Be $15 a Month Thursday Mar 05 2015 11:11 EDT After years of complaints that you couldn't just buy a standalone streaming version of HBO Go without also having a traditional cable subscription, HBO last October finally buckled and announced they'd be launching such a service sometime in 2015. The latest leaks on the plan suggest the service will be called "HBO Now," and will run users about $15 a month -- or roughly the same amount it costs users to add the premium channel to their traditional cable lineup. Ideally, HBO hopes to launch the service before the April 13 debut of "Game of Thrones," though that date could be delayed if they can't get the service working well. The report notes that HBO would obviously like to avoid some of the PR flack received when HBO Go choked on the iron throne just about one year ago: quote: While HBO has not confirmed a launch date for HBO Now, internally the target is an April launch, in time for the April 12 debut of “Game of Thrones.” That’s an aggressive time frame for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which is building the back end along with a new front end separate from HBO Go. HBO is taking care not to launch HBO Now before it can guarantee that the service will work without some of the technical glitches that plagued HBO Go during last year's debut of "Game of Thrones."
Apple is at least one launch partner the company is working with, though obviously the service should show up on various hardware and ISP configurations (except, well, maybe Comcast). Will HBO's new gambit succeed? A big portion of that depends on whether or not many viewers find the $15 price point and app design a better, easier experience than firing up BitTorrent to download what's consistently the most pirated show on television. |
camperjust visiting this planet Premium Member join:2010-03-21 Bethel, CT
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camper
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2015-Mar-5 11:15 am
Will HBO have to pay Comcast for reliable delivery?  Now that Comcast has shown the business model to work, e.g., Netflix, I wonder how long before HBO might start having congestion issues on Comcast's edge routers? | |
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