Nearly a year ago, Samsung and HBO announced a partnership that would let consumers stream HBO content to Samsung TVs. You would have to be an HBO subscriber to access the service, which meant that you had to be signed up with a pay-TV service.
Since then, you could get this HBO Go content on your computer, iPad, iPhone, Android smart phone, or even a Roku box. But not a Samsung TV. Until now.
Samsung has just announced that the service is available on certain models of their Smart TVs, with one additional restriction; not all pay-TV services are eligible. While Verizon FiOS, Charter, Cox, DISH Network, and DirecTV are supported on the Samsung screens, Comcast and Time Warner Cable are among the most conspicuously absent (though they do support the smart phone and iPad apps).
I continue to find it fascinating that the content providers such as HBO are being so timid about opening up streaming access to their content. The HBO Go service is free, but available only to HBO subscribers, perhaps so that HBO doesn’t anger the pay-TV services that provide the bulk of its revenues. On the other hand, this may simply be the company’s way of limiting demand for the streaming service, giving them time to test it out before rolling out in a big way.
It might well be that HBO is planning a streaming-only offering down the line with it’s own monthly fee. The same pay-TV service that currently gets subscriber dollars for the HBO channels would almost certainly be the same company that provides the broadband connection used to access the streaming service, so while this could mean less money for the pay-TV service, it’s not as though HBO would be cutting them off completely with the new service. There is no doubt that the cable, satellite, and telco services are going to have to be nimble and responsive over the next few years if they are going to survive the rapidly-changing video entertainment landscape.
Posted by Alfred Poor, February 22, 2012 5:00 AM
1 comment:
HBO GO is one of the best things to ever happen for someone like me who loves several HBO series new and old. I have an HBO subscription through DISH and what I like about DISH is that they see that online video content is a form of entertainment that they are already taking a hold of on numerous platforms. Not everyone can be home to click on the TV, or if he/she is like me, he/she already has a gamer hogging up the biggest TV in the home. For times like this, I’m glad that DISH offers me content through DISHonline.com and expanded access to content online with Blockbuster @Home. Other TV providers, as mentioned in the article, haven’t grasped HBO GO for Samsung Smart TVs, let alone online video content for their subscribers. As an employee of DISH, I can’t imagine why these other TV providers are allowing themselves to fall behind as technology pushes forward. I guess time will tell for these other TV providers, but in the meantime, I’m glad that I have numerous ways to access video content with DISH.
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