HBO Finally Offering Standalone Streaming Service Next Year

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They made no mention as to how much this service might cost, I would assume cable companies won't drop the price for the channel/hbogo feature any less that it already is (seems like 10 - 12 dollars a month) and I don't think they have enough new content for standalone users to pay more than what the cable/satellite companies are charging per month. Once you've watched all the old shows and exhausted the new content, I'm thinking many people will cancel just like they do on cable when the show they are interested in ends. I think this is why Netflix and Amazon are trying to bring in more in house produced shows and movies, to keep people from cancelling out of boredom.
 
What would make sense is if HBO teamed up with Showtime and Starz to offer a service allowing access to stream all shows/movies from those networks. That way in stead of possibly having 3 "small" competitors to netflix, they could offer one larger services.
 
They can compete with netflix because HBO has actual modern movies and really awesome shows. The movies on netflix are mostly B movies or dated. They occasionally have a few blockbuster hits.
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You clearly have no idea how the licensing works.

What would make sense is if HBO teamed up with Showtime and Starz to offer a service allowing access to stream all shows/movies from those networks. That way in stead of possibly having 3 "small" competitors to netflix, they could offer one larger services.
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This would be great for the consumer but I don't think it will happen within our lifetime. Their goal is to probably start ahead on the market to gain as much market share as possible. What will save HBO if they go full on ahead with this is the price. They can't charge much more than $10 a month since they have Netflix on one side and people with Amazon Instant Video can see the HBO collection, so unless they're waiting till 2015 for the licensing to end with Amazon I don't know what they plan to do to reel-in subscribers from those services.
 
Once HBO does this, other channels will follow. No longer will we have to pay for crap channels we'll never watch included with some package in order to minimize the cable expense.

With regard to "cable cutting", the initial investment in your own hardware can be off-putting for some:

Basic non-amped Indoor HD Over-the-Air (OTA) Antenna would suffice for most
Docsis 3.0 Cable modem
Router and switches as necessary
OTA DVR (ie TabloTV)
Roku/Apple/Google TV devices and/or smart tvs

But these are one-time purchases instead of paying the cable company to lease their equipment every month. Upgrade as necessary when technological advances dictate it.

I've found a basic 30Mbps connection will easily accommodate 3 HD video streams+gaming.

Services to consider are Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime. All about $9 each, but you can watch these on any TV, PC or device in your house. These will give you a lot of content to watch in addition to the OTA. I suppose I'll pick up HBO Go now for the Game of Thrones season.

Also, I used to provider hop as better cable deals were offered by different providers. It makes it really easy to switch providers when only one cable has to be swapped out.

Many people won't even require the OTA equipment as you can pretty much watch any show the next day on Hulu plus, but I do like to watch the occasional football game. It takes a few months to start realizing the savings, but after a that, it's money in your pocket.

Why do you think the cable companies don't want net neutrality? They fear losing their grasp on everything they want to charge us for. More and more people are dropping cable.
 
I would pay $10-20 a month while Game of Thrones is airing. Then ditch the service, because that's the only thing I care about.
 
I don't see any conflict between HBO streaming service and Netflix. I will buy both if the price is right as they have different content. Right now I have DISH and pay $26 monthly for HBO + Showtime including access to HBO GO. Unfortunately HBO GO is only available to me via broadband to any of my networked computers so I can't watch HBO GO on my TV even though I have a WD streaming box. I believe the key to the new streaming service is availability to stream directly to any TV. I would probably even pay a little more for the luxury of watching what I want on my schedule rather than HBO's schedule. The other services will do whatever HBO is successful at.
 


I would pay it per episode. There's nothing else on that stinking channel most of the time.
 

The OTA antenna is going to be highly dependent on location. In some locations with the right geography, 70+ stations are possible. In mine where I am in a valley, I get two stations still on VHF perfectly, while the three other main local stations on UHF are dependent on weather conditions which do make them unwatchable at times. That is with a small-ish directional and amplified Winegard antenna in my attic. I get a few low-power stations in my area, one that serves religious interests, one that serves up ION and another that is more independent with a total of about 28 channels that come in well enough to watch.

As for me, OTA is a no-brainer compared to Hulu because I can skip commercials; I time shift everything.

I know it is not for everyone, but I went with MediaPortal, Hulu+ (free via Bing Points), Netflix, and Amazon Prime plus a $0.99/episode for a show my wife watches through iTunes. Outlay in equipment/software including a new HTPC build and 2, HDHomerun Prime tuners was about $1,800. Considering I am now paying $16/mo for just TV down from $88/mo, I'll pay that off in about another 17 months.

I have absolutely no interest in HBO's service at any price. For their original programming, even if I were interested, I would stick with Amazon Prime.

 
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