HBO considers U-turn on cable-free access to HBO Go

Ben Lovejoy

Reuters reported that HBO might consider a reversal of its previous position of not allowing access to HBO Go without a cable subscription.

HBO-GO

HBO Go launched 3 years ago to allow subscribers to watch shows on tablets, but the service is so far restricted to those who have a cable TV subscription with an HBO partner and pay a top-up HBO fee. Co-President Eric Kessler had previously, and rather naively, said in a video interview at VideoNuze that those abandoning cable TV for purely online viewing was “minimal” and a temporary response to the economy, and he said there was no reason to offer a standalone mobile service.

This position now appears to be softening, with CEO Richard Plepler recognizing that a growing number of consumers want to choose both content and viewing platform at will.

“Right now we have the right model,” Plepler told Reuters on Wednesday evening at the Season 3 premiere of HBO’s hit TV show “Game of Thrones.” “Maybe HBO GO, with our broadband partners, could evolve.”

Companies like HBO are faced with a difficult tightrope act. While they earn billions of dollars from their existing sales model, any new offering that risks cannibalizing revenue is a frightening prospect for the company. Equally, however, it’s clear that ‘cable-cutting’ —giving up cable TV subscriptions in favor of online viewing— will only increase. Failing to respond to this is not an option.

One number will be looming very large in front of HBO: 25 million. That’s the number of illegal downloads of its hit show ”Game of Thrones”. While some substantial proportion of those people would download pirated content for free no matter what options were available, there is a growing phenomenon of illegal downloads by those who would be willing to pay for content simply because existing deals don’t allow them the freedom to simply pay for the content they want on the device they want.

Fox movies finally available for re-download in iTunes in the Cloud

Seth Weintraub

Multiple tipsters wrote in this evening saying 20th Century Fox movies are appearing in their purchased movie iTunes accounts ready for re-downloading over iCloud. Sure enough, Fox’s Horton Hears a Who! is on my kid’s iTunes account ready for downloading on iCloud (above, left). There is also no longer a disclaimer saying, “This movie is not available for iCloud downloading,” in iTunes (above, right) which existed before.

When Apple launched Movies in Cloud in March, both Fox and Universal held out. Universal went live on iCloud in April, and it appears Fox is going live today. The deal has been expected for awhile, as HBO allowed iCloud users access to both studios’ catalogs in March. The reasons for the delay aren’t specified but they often involve complicated contract negotiations with multiple rights holders.

Today has been a big day on the iTunes Store with Poland and Hungary both getting iTunes Match, while 37 different countries got iTunes in the Cloud for movies.

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DirecTV iPad app update adds video streaming on the go

Jordan Kahn

In October, the “DirecTV” app added the ability to stream video over home networks. Today, an update to the app adds the ability to stream shows and movies over 3G and Wi-Fi anywhere. The new feature is limited to video content, meaning live TV streaming still requires a Wi-Fi connection on your home network. Engadget points us to an early review of the new feature that is apparently called “DirecTV Everywhere” from The Solid Signal Blog (below).

According to the video, it looks like available content for the feature is limited to DirecTV’s Audience Network, HBO, Cinemax, Encore, Sony Movie Channel, and Starz. The update also adds a “social module” that lets you check which friend’s on Twitter and Facebook are watching, as well as Miso check-ins and the ability to resume watching programs on the iPad where you left off. You need to be a DirecTV subscriber to get access to the content, and you will find a long list of requirements for various features on the iTunes page with version 1.5.0…

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HBO will soon allow iCloud users access to Universal and Fox movies

Jordan Kahn

With the introduction of the new Apple TV, alongside the new iPad’s introduction last week, we learned that iCloud users would now be able access purchased movies (which also extends to digital copies uploaded from DVDs). The feature was previously limited to music and TV shows. At the time, we unfortunately learned content from Comcast’s Universal and Fox would be blocked from iCloud due to exclusive rights in place through pre-existing deals with HBO. An HBO spokesperson has now confirmed to The Wall Street Journal the company will relax the terms of its deals with the two content providers in order to allow iCloud users to access to their previously purchased content: Read more

Universal and Fox movies blocked from iCloud on new Apple TV?

Jordan Kahn

As we predicted, Apple quickly unveiled a refreshed Apple TV today at its media event in San Francisco before moving onto the new iPad. On top of 1080p video streaming, perhaps one of the biggest features of the device’s upgraded UI is the ability to access purchased movies stored in iCloud— just like with music and TV shows. Unfortunately, according to a report from AllThingsD, it looks like not all content will be accessible. Content from Comcast’s Universal and News Corp.’s Fox will not be available due to deals currently in place with HBO:
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SCinemax’s Max Go App somehow skirts App Store porn police

9to5 Staff

If you’ve ever been *ahem* channel surfing late at night and stumbled upon HBO subsidiary Cinemax programming you know that there isn’t much differentiation between what you see there and all out pornography.

The news this weekend is that Apple just gave the go-ahead to Cinemax’s MaxGo App(free) for both iPhone and iPad.  Yes, it includes “Late Night” content.

Far be it from us to judge what should and shouldn’t be on the App Store, but it seems that Apple is continuing to create controversy with its “no porn” stance.

In an email exchange with Gawker’s Ryan Tate last year, Jobs said that the iPad would offer users “freedom from porn.” And in a Q&A session after the launch of iOS 4, Jobs told reporters that porn was one reason Apple wouldn’t allow unsigned or unapproved apps onto iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.

“You know, there’s a porn store for Android. You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go – so we’re not going to go there.”

Playboy,which is at least as “soft-core” as SCinemax, was denied access to the App Store for its nude pictorials.  For what it is worth, access to the Max Go app is parental controlled to users 17 or older.

If this story picks up, Apple will probably force  HBO to curtail its mature content retroactively, not that there aren’t plenty of other outlets via Safari for such material. Read more