HBO and Apple Announce 'HBO Now' Exclusively for Apple TV and iOS Devices

[Anonymous Freak]

... 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.

Bingo. I had Comcast, then when the local DSL provider finally made faster than 5 Mbps available in my neighborhood, I switched, even though their 20 Mbps DSL was still slower than the 50 Mbps Comcast was giving me. (And upload is terrible - 1 Mbps vs. Comcast's 20.) And the DSL is only $10 cheaper.

But it's not Comcast.

The bad thing is, our phone line has been getting steadily worse - I've had it repaired twice in the past two months, and have the tech scheduled to come out again tomorrow. I had to reboot my DSL model earlier, because I was only getting 1 Mbps.

I have zero other options. It's DSL or Comcast. There are two fixed-wireless providers in town, but they require line-of-sight to their transmitter, which I don't have.

 

[larrylaffer]

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.

What you're talking about applies specifically to the NFL, but no other sports league (at least in the USA) operate this way.

The reason we have blackout restrictions on sports streaming packages is due to the broadcasters and ad revenue. Many major market teams (Lakers, Dodgers, Yankees) have moved exclusively to cable-company-owned networks in order to generate this ad revenue. If you follow the news in Los Angeles, you'd see theres a huge battle right now between DirecTV and Time Warner Cable over Dodgers broadcasting, because TWC owns the network, and wants DirecTV to pay through the nose to provide it to their customers.

In the end, we lose.

Thus, I buy MLB.TV each year and use proxies to get my Dodgers

 

[FieldingMellish]

I find it cheaper and better to buy the blu-rays of HBO series that I like after the fact.

 

[Tech198]

This is hardly "just one channel." .

I meant "one channel" as opposed to bundle packages like Foxtel or other services.

If HBO offers the 1st month Free, *then* ask u to pay at the end if you wish to continue, the i may go for it. But knowing them they may want your CC details first since its exclusive

 

[BruiserB]

I meant "one channel" as opposed to bundle packages like Foxtel or other services.

If HBO offers the 1st month Free, *then* ask u to pay at the end if you wish to continue, the i may go for it. But knowing them they may want your CC details first since its exclusive

You will probably "subscribe" through your iTunes account. HBO won't get your cc details. The first month will be free. Then you can go into your iTunes account immediately and turn off auto renew. You'll enjoy your first free month and won't be on the hook for anything additional unless you re-subscribe. I turn off Netflix frequently through iTunes and then just turn it back on when there's something I want to watch. Then I immediately turn off auto renew. Keeps me from paying for periods where I don't watch anything. I'll probably manage HBO the same way.

 

[FieldingMellish]

It's just so overpriced and obsolete to subscribe to, especially after having it on cable for all those years before I cut the cable. HBO used to run movies that you'd see time and again, the choices were that limited. And the few HBO series worth seeing are less expensive to buy after the fact in DVD or Blu-Ray. I recently got season 4 Game of Thrones and the visuals and sound kill on Blu-Ray over streaming any day.

 

[poorcody]

Super Cheap

I actually get a lot of the HBO and Showtime series from DVD's at my library. I can take out a whole season at a time, rip them to my Mac, and watch them at my leisure. If you don't mind being a year or two "behind", it's actually quite convenient and free!

 

[BruiserB]

Any news on when they will launch this?

I know they said before Game of Thrones premier on the 12th, but I doubt they'd want to release it exactly on the date. You'd think they'd want to give people a few days to get their subscriptions activated. I already cancelled my DirecTV HBO subscription. I'm not a Game of Thrones fan, but missed John Oliver last night and want it back for RealTime this Friday!