# Availability on Netflix Streaming vs. Disc **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811 "2014-04-10T18:11:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/21 "2014-04-18T03:17:57Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Oh, I don’t know. Anyone that has cable or satellite would presumably want to be able to watch it on their TV, use their DVR with it, etc. I might be giving the average HBO Go user too much credit but it’s trivially easy to hook up a PC to a TV. Even tablets and phones increasingly come with mini-HDMI hookups these days. I’ve watched a few HBO things using the PC-\>TV route that they make available exclusively via the streaming service but not directly via On Demand style cable features (Flight of the Conchords for example). By the way, that puzzles me more than them not selling independent HBO Go subscriptions: HBO programing that is only available via streaming online. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/22 "2014-04-18T12:43:37Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I might be giving the average HBO Go user too much credit but it’s trivially easy to hook up a PC to a TV. Sure–that’s how I’m accessing this board as we speak. But I do think it’s relatively rare for people to do this; and if someone already has cable or satellite, I still think they’d rather use their DVR to watch shows instead of going through HBO GO. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/23 "2014-04-18T13:49:02Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > and if someone already has cable or satellite, I still think they’d rather use their DVR to watch shows instead of going through HBO GO. Yeah, but we’re talking about people who don’t have cable/sat. The providers don’t want HBO Go sold independently because then less people would need cable. As it is, you need a cable/sat subscription to access legally streaming HBO shows and that’s how the providers want to keep it. I’m sure their agreements with HBO reflect that. My PC/TV point was just that, if all you cared about was some HBO programming, you could just drop your cable/sat, get HBO Go and stream it to your TV for about the same effect. This is what Comcast, Dish, Direct TV, etc don’t want. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/24 "2014-04-18T13:56:46Z")
But what I’m saying is that I don’t think there are all that many people who are currently keeping cable or satellite only to access HBO–people that would drop cable or satellite if HBO were decoupled from it. In any event, I fail to see the economic advantage for HBO. It’s not as though the cable and satellite companies pay HBO to stay coupled to them. The monthly charge for HBO is split between HBO itself and the cable/satellite affiliates. If they sold HBO GO separately, HBO would get 100 percent of that money. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/25 "2014-04-18T14:58:59Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > In any event, I fail to see the economic advantage for HBO. It’s not as though the cable and satellite companies pay HBO to stay coupled to them. I assume they are via their agreements with HBO and who gets what split. If HBO started offering its service independently, they’d probably be forced to take a smaller split since they’re costing the cable/sat providers subscribers. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/26 "2014-04-18T16:54:37Z")
So you think the cable/satellite companies have that much power in the relationship? I don’t, but I guess HBO agrees with you, for now. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/27 "2014-04-18T19:34:52Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So you think the cable/satellite companies have that much power in the relationship? I don’t, but I guess HBO agrees with you, for now. HBO is owned by one of the biggest cable providers, Time Warner Cable. And if Comcast gets its way, it will be owned by the biggest. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/28 "2014-04-21T07:53:22Z")
Well, there ya go–unfortunate but probably the key fact in all of this. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/29 "2014-04-23T15:11:24Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > That just means no one has offered them enough money yet. I stand corrected. [Amazon Prime to Exclusively Stream HBO Faves Including Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Veep](http://tvline.com/2014/04/23/amazon-prime-hbo-deal-sopranos-veep-girls-the-wire/) Someone did offer HBO enough money, though I wouldn’t discount the cable companies dislike of Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2014, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811/30 "2014-04-24T11:47:48Z")
That’s pretty wild. I am not hating that addition to my Amazon Prime, though three years is a long time to wait. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/availability-on-netflix-streaming-vs-disc/685811.md?page=1)