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HBO and Apple Announce 'HBO Now' Exclusively for Apple TV and iOS Devices
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Just thought of this. I currently have HBO so I get HBOGo on my AppleTV, iPad and Android phone. If I switch to HBO Now, I wonder if I will still have my HBOGo access, which, presumably, would be the only way for me to access HBO on my Android devices (since Apple has the exclusive on HBONow).
That could be a dealbreaker for me.
Just thought of this. I currently have HBO so I get HBOGo on my AppleTV, iPad and Android phone. If I switch to HBO Now, I wonder if I will still have my HBOGo access, which, presumably, would be the only way for me to access HBO on my Android devices (since Apple has the exclusive on HBONow).
That could be a dealbreaker for me.
HBO Go only works if you have HBO as part of your TV package, so if you drop HBO then HBO Go wouldn't work any more (whether or not you go for HBO Now).
Someone is going to hate me for saying this, but to me, this HBO and Apple deal is a far bigger and more important story than the watch. Yet there's barely any talk about it.
No disagreement here. Not sure which is bigger, but this is BIG for sure. The beginning of the unraveling of cable/satellite TV as we have known it.....
Yup, I agree. This is huge and I am betting we will see more of this in the coming months!
I'll disagree. I know everybody is different, but the services you mentioned such as spotify and office (that one has me laughing =) I would never subscribe to, nor do I know many people who do. However, many people who are paying hundreds for cable are willing to cut their bill a little to have multiple services (without contracts) that meet their needs.
And for myself personally, I have never owned cable and streaming services such as this and Sling TV are with it to me to check out some shows (provided HBO Now had no contract).
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Netflix may have more content but that doesn't mean they have more "relevant" content to a specific viewer. For me personally, I could probably watch more content that I actually want to watch in a month on HBO Now than I would Netflix.
Random question does anyone know if "Real Time with Bill Maher" will be part of this?
Non-random answer: Yes
All HBO programming is included and can be watched on-demand at any time. Even back seasons of HBO original programming.
What remains to be seen is if they add a live feed to this and if they have live feeds for the full range of HBO Channels. With HBO Go, you can't watch Real Time in real time....it shows up the next day. Hopefully HBO Now changes this....since it's "Now," I expect you will be able to.
That is what I feared. It now becomes worth the extra $3 for me to get HBO through my DirecTV service, if only to maintain the ability to watch HBOGo through non-Apple devices.
They literally almost had me.
It was already posted that you can watch on a PC at launch. The exclusivity to Apple is only 3 months. I would expect other platforms available in July. Just wait till then if you absolutely can't bear to not watch it on an Android device.
If there were ever an option to also have ESPN streaming solo, it'd be enough for lots of people.
Many of us would get by great with:
HBO & ESPN Networks: $30/month
OTA Antenna for Locals (optional): Free
Purchase MLB/NFL/NHL/MLS streaming as you desire (or don't).
I have no use for anything besides the above and I suspect for many people something like this would work well.
Additionally, you could add in:
Sling TV: $20/month
I think for lots of people it's not even the cost, as $50-$70 month is fine if you get *what you want* and on your own terms -- Like being able to change and/or cancel and be done as you see fit.
Many of us would get by great with:
HBO & ESPN Networks: $30/month
OTA Antenna for Locals (optional): Free
Purchase MLB/NFL/NHL/MLS streaming as you desire (or don't).
I have no use for anything besides the above and I suspect for many people something like this would work well.
Additionally, you could add in:
Sling TV: $20/month
I think for lots of people it's not even the cost, as $50-$70 month is fine if you get *what you want* and on your own terms -- Like being able to change and/or cancel and be done as you see fit.
Sweet, this is good news. I'm interested in trying the new service, but already have a Mac Mini I use as a HTPC so don't have any use for an aTV.
No it isn't. This tyranny won't end until live sports can be watched by people in-market without a tv provider.
I think you're mixing up cable industry tyranny with sports league tyranny. The black out rules are made by the latter.
Wouldn't blackouts be worse for networks and also TV providers since they aren't getting all those viewers than they would get if they could in fact air the games that they otherwise can't?
What viewers aren't they getting, they are airing the games, but if you want to watch you need cable
Blackouts occur on broadcast TV as well. And they are enforced on AppleTV and other digital distribution where they can determine your location by IP address. It's supposedly so local fans will buy tickets to a game rather than stay home and watch it on TV. The rules are made by the sports leagues. The distributors (cable, broadcast, digital) are forced to follow them.
Other than football there are no blackouts on games broadcast through cable tv only internet broadcasts are blacked out and they are blacked out over the internet because if they were not then alot of more people would ditch cable. it has nothing to do with wanting people to buy tickets, if that mattered then games broadcast on cable would also be blacked out locally unless there were a sellout. It does not matter if two or 60000 tickets are sold, the games are seen by anyone with cable and no one through the internet unless you are out of market. And alot of teams either are owned by cable companies, Comcast and Rogers are two i know of which also own the Tv networks the games are broadcast on so they have a self interest in keeping games locally off the internet
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exclusive only three months ? this some sort of test or something ?
$15 a month sounds pretty expensive for just one channel..
However, it IS just one channel
Is this "going cable-less" ? like they did online?
It probably works out to be cheaper anyway... no my much, but at least u get the top content... Like i do now.
"Game of Thrones" must excite this.
$15 a month sounds pretty expensive for just one channel..
However, it IS just one channel
Is this "going cable-less" ? like they did online?
It probably works out to be cheaper anyway... no my much, but at least u get the top content... Like i do now.
"Game of Thrones" must excite this.
... and people have decent options in most markets aside from "Comcast and the slower one." I just have Comcast broadband and they will NOT stop bugging me via mail and phone about wanting me to get other crap from them. If you want to lose my business, operate in a field with competition and keep bugging me about buying more things. If I wanted Comcast TV, I would ask for it.
Also, those fools can't get my autopay to work right, so why would I give them any more of my money when they f@#%ed that up and got $25 free from me for a couple of months?
(I'm not a huge Comcast fan, folks)
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exclusive only three months ? this some sort of test or something ?
$15 a month sounds pretty expensive for just one channel..
However, it IS just one channel
Is this "going cable-less" ? like they did online?
It probably works out to be cheaper anyway... no my much, but at least u get the top content... Like i do now.
"Game of Thrones" must excite this.
This is hardly "just one channel." You get access to about every show HBO has ever produced on demand -- old stuff like Sopranos, new stuff like Game of Thrones -- and a bunch of movies that came out in your lifetime to watch. Netflix never really did evolve into offering a good catalog of newer movies if you didn't rent DVDs. When the services split and it cost $8 for each, that went out the window for about everybody. So I've canceled Netflix in order to help pay for Sling TV and this. I still need Hulu Plus since Sling doesn't have Comedy Central or broadcast channels. If Sling ever did that, Hulu might be in trouble in a hurry.
Random question does anyone know if "Real Time with Bill Maher" will be part of this?
His show doesn't air live on HBOGO, so if NOW is like GO then they'll put the episodes up on the service 1-3 days after it airs.
Cable/sat and TV networks literally spend billions of dollars a year for the right to air the games so I don't think anyone should be surprised that they are protective of that investment. If an Internet streaming company wants to outbid them for the rights they are welcome to try.