HBO Now Putting Some Shows Online Totally Free (After Losing Viewers, Of Course)

from the so-that's-how-it-works dept

Back in January, we noted that HBO was experimenting with putting its TV shows online in a way that could be viewed at no additional cost for people who were already subscribers to HBO. Apparently, it's now expanding that program and allowing at least one show to go online totally free, both on its own website and on YouTube. Of course, it's only doing this on a new show, In Treatment, that is on five nights a week and has rapidly lost its initial audience. So, perhaps the network is recognizing that giving away the show for free might help entice a new audience. Unfortunately, it appears the network is still hedging its bets, only putting some of the show online. With a show that is shown every night of the week, you'd think they'd want to do everything possible to make it easy for folks to catch up and continue watching the TV version, rather than losing interest as they get left behind after missing a few episodes.

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News You Could Do Without

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jan 21st 2008 12:33pm

Funny That HBO Is Putting Shows Online, Just As Parent Time Warner Starts Charging Extra For Bandwidth

from the coincidence? dept

The NY Times is covering the news that HBO has finally decided it needs a real internet strategy, and will start offering its content online, free of (additional) charge to existing subscribers. The idea of putting the content online makes a lot of sense, and it sounds like it's offering features that many HBO subscribers would find useful, from access to archived materials to live streams. However, there is something a little odd about all this, as noted by the folks at The Hollywood Reporter. HBO is owned by Time Warner. Time Warner is the same company that is now starting to experiment with overage fees, sometimes based on very low usage -- which would clearly preclude watching very much online video.

It is true that both of these programs are merely tests -- and they're tests in totally different markets right now. However, the HBO online video will only be available to Time Warner customers. The Hollywood Reporter story suggests that it's a case of two parts of a business not communicating with one another -- but I'm sure some more conspiracy-minded thinkers will naturally assume it's really Time Warner's attempt to squeeze more money out of people. Sure, it will say the HBO streams are "free," but just wait until you get that broadband bill... Of course, there is also another possibility. The Hollywood Reporter story mentions the possibility that Time Warner would create a special "exception" to the bandwidth rule if that bandwidth was for watching Time Warner-only videos. That, of course, is exactly the sort of thing that will be sure to get network neutrality advocates up in arms, though it's a subtle shift from traditional network neutrality claims. This time it won't be about "better quality," but about which content counts towards a bandwidth cap.

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HBO Now Putting Some Shows Online Totally Free (After Losing Viewers, Of Course)

from the so-that's-how-it-works dept

Funny That HBO Is Putting Shows Online, Just As Parent Time Warner Starts Charging Extra For Bandwidth

from the coincidence? dept

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