Apple TV may start carrying HBO shows in 2013 - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolipsismX 


Maybe that's what Apple is trying to get them to agree to.

Let's hope so. It is the sort of deal that needs to happen to break the stranglehold the cable companies have over TV.

I just cut my Charter cable tv subscription this week, and after 33 years chained to it, it feels like a giant anvil has been lifted off my chest. Bloated, useless programming, crap interface, everything about "your cable provider" is awful, except for original programming from HBO, Showtime, and the like. And ESPN, and those guys are pushing it in terms of sensationalism. I get CNBC from my TD Ameritrade account, and over-the-air digital is better quality for local programming. History Channel has put their best programming on H2, which I refused to pay extra for; I can get it online. Everyone likes to speculate about Apple's cash hoard and how they should spend it - well, here you go. Make Time Warner and Disney an offer they can't refuse, and I'll trade in my 2 Ruku players for 2 Apple TVs and standalone subscriptions to HBO & ESPN. And so will everyone!

Quote:

Originally Posted by alandail 

 

Why do you think that you need cable service to watch video? .

 

you can watch it when you travel and don't have access to cable.

you can watch it in a room not wired for cable

if they allow you to subscribe that way, you can watch it without having cable/satellite TV at all.

 

Also, on demand video is 100x better than using DVR where you have to know in advance you want to record it and nave to manage the free space on the DVR.

Watching content of the quality found on HBO is a much better experience on my 47" TV than my 9.7" iPad. I don't need to be able to watch TV 24/7 regardless of where I am. Now give me an app that allows me to pay $10 a month to HBO instead of Comcast and you will get my interest and support.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kent909 

To get HBO Go you need to be subscribing to HBO through your cable provider. Which means you already get HBO and you probably have a DVR to record HBO, so what is the big deal? Pointless and useless.

                              ^^^

                             this

The HBO go app is not going to be of benefit to TV, or any other add-on box unless there is a stand alone subscription fee to HBO programing for the reasons pointed out by kent909. If they were to start that type of service it would probably cost about $20 a month. That is a bit more than it costs from cable providers, but you have to start somewhere when you break ground like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by allenbf 


Correct. I'm able to get the audio to work but not the video. Fairly poor way to get my Bill Maher fix.

Yep, same here.  It's weird.  I can watch shows on the HBO website on my Macbook and then Airplay THAT onto my ATV, but that's just a pain.  Can't wait 'til they release an app.  I have HBO (obviously), but if I could purchase a streaming option separately through Apple I would much rather do that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RogueDogRandy 

                              ^^^

                             this

The HBO go app is not going to be of benefit to TV, or any other add-on box unless there is a stand alone subscription fee to HBO programing for the reasons pointed out by kent909. If they were to start that type of service it would probably cost about $20 a month. That is a bit more than it costs from cable providers, but you have to start somewhere when you break ground like that.

I was thinking that Apple could act like the Cable/Sat TV company and handle the payments for it.  So you are still not paying HBO/Cinemax directly, but you are paying Apple who are then paying HBO.

If Apple did that, and then tied that access into your Apple ID, you would likely be able to access it on your computer/iDevice.  The only downside to the above idea, is that at the end of the day, it is still only On Demand, not a mirrored stream from the HBO channels, though maybe they launch that for all HBO Go Customers.  

I can almost guarantee you HBO won't be offering HBO GO as a pay service. It's just not worth it to HBO. One of the issues is cost. People saying they would pay $10 a month is way too low. Even paying $20 a month isn't worth it to HBO. HBO's cost for having a standalone pay service through HBO GO would go way up. HBO would have to start a customer service center, billing center, and have to take over for it's own marketing. Currently, the cable companies do all of that for them. The number of people who have cut their ties to cable is extremely small compared to cable subscribers in the U.S. According to an Economist article a few years ago over 100 million have a multichannel subscription with only 3 million homes with broadband internet and no cable service. IF HBO is trying to sell expensive content to people, they obviously are going after the cable audience. 

Bottom line, HBO gets more revenue from cable versus a potential standalone service through HBO GO. On the flipside, HBO can come to an agreement with Apple so they use Apple for content distribution and billing. Still, I really don't see that happening though unfortunately. For the international market, I can possibly see a pay service for users outside of the U.S. but again, the cost for HBO to have the ability to do that might make it not worth it for them. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boltsfan17 

I can almost guarantee you HBO won't be offering HBO GO as a pay service. It's just not worth it to HBO. One of the issues is cost. People saying they would pay $10 a month is way too low. Even paying $20 a month isn't worth it to HBO. HBO's cost for having a standalone pay service through HBO GO would go way up. HBO would have to start a customer service center, billing center, and have to take over for it's own marketing. Currently, the cable companies do all of that for them. The number of people who have cut their ties to cable is extremely small compared to cable subscribers in the U.S. According to an Economist article a few years ago over 100 million have a multichannel subscription with only 3 million homes with broadband internet and no cable service. IF HBO is trying to sell expensive content to people, they obviously are going after the cable audience. 

 

Bottom line, HBO gets more revenue from cable versus a potential standalone service through HBO GO. On the flipside, HBO can come to an agreement with Apple so they use Apple for content distribution and billing. Still, I really don't see that happening though unfortunately. For the international market, I can possibly see a pay service for users outside of the U.S. but again, the cost for HBO to have the ability to do that might make it not worth it for them. 

Not to mention the fact that the Cable/Satellite providers would most likely go nuts.  If HBO were to try to sell the package without a subscription through a Cable/Satellite providers that could severely impact them.  If HBO tried to do it many of the Cable/Satellite providers would probably threaten or actually drop the HBO channels.  Imagine how many customers and how much money HBO would lose if someone like DirecTV with 30 million subscribers (around 15 million of which subscribe to HBO I think) dropped them.  If you estimated that HBO makes $10/month of the $16/month DirecTV charges, and my 15 million subscribers is estimate right, that would be $150 million dollars every month that HBO would lose if DirecTV dropped them.  Sure some people might subscribe to HBO directly, but probably only a small portion of those 15 million, so HBO would end up losing a lot of money, and that would be from only one fo their providers.  If all the providers dropped them HBO would most likely be out of business in a very short amount of time.

I acutally believe that HBO and the Cable/Satellite providers have this stuff covered in their contracts to keep this from happening.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakeb 

I just don't understand HBO's position on this. Obviously I'm not alone. But why, why, why would they not want me to pay them to watch HBO shows online? 

They probably do.  

The article says that HBO will be on Apple TV but it's pretty much irrelevant information without the price, and the availability info as well.  It's likely that this will be a US only thing (so forget about more than half of the AppleTV customers), and that it will probably cost more than basic cable does in your area.  

So in effect, this is just a waste of time, both the act itself and the article about it.  

It still won't make any sense, or do anything at all for most of their potential non-cable customers.  They will all do what they have been doing up until now which is torrenting the stuff for free.  It would have to be priced lower than Netflix for most of the potential audience to sit up and take notice.  HBO shows are good, but they aren't the second coming or anything.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boltsfan17 

I can almost guarantee you HBO won't be offering HBO GO as a pay service. It's just not worth it to HBO. One of the issues is cost. People saying they would pay $10 a month is way too low. Even paying $20 a month isn't worth it to HBO. HBO's cost for having a standalone pay service through HBO GO would go way up. HBO would have to start a customer service center, billing center, and have to take over for it's own marketing. Currently, the cable companies do all of that for them. The number of people who have cut their ties to cable is extremely small compared to cable subscribers in the U.S. According to an Economist article a few years ago over 100 million have a multichannel subscription with only 3 million homes with broadband internet and no cable service. IF HBO is trying to sell expensive content to people, they obviously are going after the cable audience. 

 

Bottom line, HBO gets more revenue from cable versus a potential standalone service through HBO GO. On the flipside, HBO can come to an agreement with Apple so they use Apple for content distribution and billing. Still, I really don't see that happening though unfortunately. For the international market, I can possibly see a pay service for users outside of the U.S. but again, the cost for HBO to have the ability to do that might make it not worth it for them. 

This is only true in the United States.  It's worth considering that AppleTV *could* give HBO a contract wherein it's available simultaneously around the world in hundreds of countries.  The first content provider to do this will have a great advantage over every other content provider and cable system on the planet.  It could be worth it for the leverage alone.  

However I agree with you about the cost.  HBO is currently vastly over-valued as content and the primary reason is the stranglehold they have on distribution.  While it's likely that they could make far more money at a lower cost with a much larger distribution on AppleTV, it takes vision to see that and one thing HBO executives don't have even a smidgen of, is vision.  They've just got some (currently) "popular" shows.