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Coming Soon: HBO Online

businessweek.com — Thanks to the popularity of YouTube, all kinds of shows are popping up on the Web. Conspicuously absent from that list: Home Box Office, who has been less-than-amicable to downloaders. But, that won't be true for long. HBO is planning significant online and mobile offerings, and executives are currently in the process of hashing out the details.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 3, 2006

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33 Comments

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  • itsmrdumass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11It's about time
  • crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Everyone was right. Sooner or later they'd have to agree to the market, because it wasn't going away lol

    Had they jumped on the bandwagon about 5 years ago, they would have been much farther ahead.
  • top5design, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5ENTOURAGE ONLINE! Let's hug it out, bitch!

    Now I don't have to subscribe to their service to watch the one show.
  • crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"I incorrected your statement."


    I corrected your statement.
  • DyDx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is great. HBO puts out the most high quality content of any television network, bar none. Half of the shows in my top 10 favorite shows ever were on HBO: Mr. Show, Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm. But I've never had HBO, I've seen them other ways. I would pay to download episodes if they were high quality and not priced too high (no more than $2-3 a piece).
  • swicklund, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3AWESOME. I recently canceled my cable. I live with only broadband now. The ONLY channel I miss is HBO. I would love to subscribe and not have to pay $50/month for 100 channels of crap just for the privilege to pay another $10 to get HBO.
  • Yez70, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"Had they jumped on the bandwagon about 5 years ago, they would have been the undisputed online leader."

    I corrected your statement.
  • felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I can't think of a better move for HBO.
    There's no way I'm going to sign up for an expensive cable TV subscription just to get HBO. Before our local provider will let you get HBO, you have to buy a package that costs about $75 a month, and comes with 150 channels I'd never watch.

    If I could just pay $12-15 a month for HBO alone, I'd gladly pony up. I don't need to get free shows through torrents, it's not a money thing at all. The convenience and guaranteed quality of paying for downloadable HBO shows like The Wire and Deadwood is exactly what I want.

    The cable companies have only themselves to blame for this. Most markets have ZERO competition, there's usually only one cable provider, and they treat their customers like *****. I'd love to see them suffer.
  • jsls, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If this is going to be a subscription to their service, that would kinda suck....but I have been waiting to be able to get HBO on my iPod so that will be cool...
  • pugsby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2All these new-fangled video sites... I hope this doesn't clog the tubes of the internets so much that I can't use The Google.
  • titansix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This was the last thing I was holding out for...now, my decision to move away from cable feels better: http://groovygreen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285&Itemid=57
  • forcedfx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Meh, I cancelled my HBO subscription 2 years ago. I can't really say I miss it... at least not for what I was paying a month.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They better not charge those who already pay for HBO, like me. I should be entitled to download the shows free of charge. Since I'm already paying whatever a month to watch the damn thing.

    If not, I'll just stick with bit torrent, but thanks.

    Speaking of which, is there any site that has up-to-date listings of recently aired TV shows? The main torrent sites seem to be a bit behind. For example, I would like to download last night's Daily Show, but can't seem to find it anywhere.
  • cstu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This could be good if the quality is HD, but otherwise people will still continue downloading the torrents for free.
  • omaryak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I would definitely pay to download Bill Maher.
  • mrsark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1hbo puts out a bunch of podcasts already, i especially like the bill maher ones, its basically his whole show in audio form.
  • GoodBrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd be thrilled to get The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood (which should have been renewed, goddamn it) without having to wait for them to come out on DVD.

    Sure, I could get a cable subscription and then add HBO, but I'm not going to do it. I hate the way the cable companies do business (me: how much is it? them: a special introductory price of $29.99/month! me: and after the introductory period, how much is it? them: It's just $29.99/month during the introductory period! me: *click*). I also hate their basic content and really don't want to pay $$ to bring that time suck into my home.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Will this download service be available for linux users or will they complain about such people using illegal software after they have decided to not make the service available to them?
  • Durrok, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Float -

    I usually use Mininova and they would usually have episodes of TV shows up within 6 hrs of them being on. Now it's around 72 hours for some reason... really crappy. Piratebay has been good though and I've switched over to using them mostly.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Much of the content on cable is crap and cable is very expensive. Everytime I have lived somewhere that has had cable I found myself watching only a few hours of content a month.

    If there is a hot show I will just rent it on dvd when it come out.

    It would still be nice to see things as they come out.

    I wouldn't mind paying for what I actually watch, if the price was reasonable. I would pay a per download fee for high quality commercial free downloads of cable content ( I don't and will not own a TV ).


  • mattb5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1YouTube is how I found out about Lucky Louie on HBO.
  • LightsOut06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1this is awesome. i would definently pay 4-5 bucks an episode to watch a live stream of The Wire without even being able to save it to me HD. Smart move by HBO.
  • oxyrubber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Since you obviously don't watch/subscribe to HBO, they have very few "pron" shows. "Skinimax" and Showtime tend to have 2-5 times as much porn as HBO.
  • Absinthminded64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I did too once Carnivale was canceled! I didn't want to get into any of their new shows with a year between seasons only to have it canceled prematurely.
  • oxyrubber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They couldn't pay me to put anything on my phone. My phone is for calls, contacts, and note-taking. I refuse to waste money on music or movie/show downloads just for a phone that I could lose/break/replace in a few months.

    On the other hand, if HBO bypassed the DVD release and gave me a download-and-burn DVD (not some crap with restrictions like Amazon's Unbox), I would pay money to get a DVD-burnable copy (with nearly the same quality-- audio AND video) as soon as the new episode aired.

    I have a TV and a DVR and HBO already, so the only thing HBO could sell me is a long-term copy of the same thing I pay subscriptions for.

    On the other hand, if this move is purely to expand into the online video market, they could make a reasonable increase in viewership if HBO sold "subscriptions" on a show-by-show basis (for less than HBO costs on TV) or an internet-alternative to their entire lineup on TV.
  • reddevil3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It would be awesome if they just offered episodes for download (similar to iTunes...but I want better quality), but I guess they'll offer a monthly fee.

    The only shows I watch on HBO are Real Time with Bill Maher and The Wire.
  • ChrisGrrr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Planning" ^== "coming soon" . . . heh
  • mac0Fd00m, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1HBO is missing out on a lot of money by not putting stuff on itunes. Why go ahead and set up this whole streaming and download service when something has already been set up for you? This is free money you are missing out on HBO.
  • zonagirl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1To omaryak:

    Sssshhhhh. I've been downloading Podcasts of the Bill Maher show for free.
  • greenspade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0that is a great list!
  • anastas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0YEAH! LETS GET RID OF THE CABLE MIDDLE MAN! I am sooo for this. Too many people are forced to subscribe to these ridiculous channel packages and pay a ton of money only because they want one or two channels. People have become fooled into paying so much money every month for something that used to be free. Nobody seemed to complain when Time Warner moved the TV antenna towers from midtown NYC to downtown where nobody could get reception, forcing everyone to have to get cable, when it was already working fine for many people!!!

    I think the cable companies are not going to let this one go easily by fighting the networks and other lobbying tactics. I think we can be paying much less than we are but they don't want us to know.
  • darlok, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2who cares
  • J6stik, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1HBO is already on the internet. It's called "porn."

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