HBO ramps up its online service HBO Go

HBO, which once was wary of putting any of its content online, is now throwing everything on its shelves on HBO Go, its digital platform.

The pay cable channel, which has about 30 million subscribers, is now making more than 1,400 titles available on HBO Go. That doesn't mean every show or movie that HBO has ever run will be available, just the ones it owns or has rights to put online. Previously, only about 600 HBO programs were on the site.

Among the series now available in their entirety are classics "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "The Wire" and "Deadwood."

HBO Go is available for free to anyone who pays to get HBO via cable or satellite. However, only a handful of distributors are offering it via broadband. Comcast, Cox, Verizon and AT&T all have deals with HBO, but other major distributors, including Time Warner Cable, which is Southern California's largest provider, do not as yet.

While HBO Go will offer everything HBO owns or has rights for, HBO's on-demand service still has a more limited offering. That has to do with the bandwidth capacity of cable and satellite operators. The pay channel hopes to be able to get more of its content available via on-demand.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Idris Elba, left, and Dominic West of HBO's "The Wire." Credit: Paul Schiraldi / HBO.

 

 

 

Comments

[Dolf]

It's absolutely ridiculous that Time Warner Cable subscribers do not have access to HBO GO. It's been out for over a year.

It just goes to show that Time Warner Cable's number 1 goal is to provide the LEAST POSSIBLE VALUE to its customers while charging as much as humanly possible.

How is it that other TV newbies such as Verizon and AT&T give their subscribers access to this and TWC doesn't? All you have to do is provide your HBO subscribers with a validated user name and ID! How complicated is that? The only legitimate explanation is that you just can't give your customers anything for free. Any sliver of enhanced value that you don't completely control.

I can't wait until Time Warner Cable gets demolished by fiber services... I will subscribe to the first viable alternative that shows up.

[Lori]

TWC does have Fiber. You are not in the industry so you do not know what all goes into the delivery of phone, cable and internet services. It's always easy to say just do this or that.

Dolf you should get yourself some satellite instead.

[Theo]

The fact that Time Warner Cable does not offer this when Time Warner OWNS HBO is bewildering. Being unable to access HBO's online content for the insane price we pay for service through TWC makes me sick.

Honestly, I can't wait to move and remove myself from TWC's list of subscribers. As though being billed outrageously wasn't enough...