# HBO to offer web-based stand-alone subscriptions starting next year **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413 "2014-10-15T17:04:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/21 "2014-10-16T03:34:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Where is bandwidth supposed to come from? Can you imagine adding even 100,000 hi def HBO viewers to internet streaming? What happens when 700,000 ditch cable and expect the web to support their streaming video? Where do you think the bandwidth for that “digital cable” is coming from now, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/22 "2014-10-16T09:33:30Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Where do you think the bandwidth for that “digital cable” is coming from now, exactly? Not across the internet. I’m not 100% sure on this, but I think cable companies reserve certain frequencies on their own coax line to transmit the same cable signals for everyone. It does take a fraction of the local bandwidth, but it’s a broadcast to everyone from the cable station on down, not individualized streams for every user. It doesn’t go out on the internet backbone, and everyone just tunes into whatever channel they want on the feed everyone is already receiving anyway. It’s not similar to pulling custom content across the internet like when you use youtube. On Demand is a lot closer, in that an individual video stream is sent to you, but again, not across the internet - just from the local cable provider to your home. But I’d imagine if some significant fraction of people were all using on demand at the same time, it would probably put a strain on that cable network. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/23 "2014-10-16T12:54:10Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Where do you think the bandwidth for that “digital cable” is coming from now, exactly? From the wire the cable company physically connected to my house. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/24 "2014-10-16T15:05:09Z")
I’m sure I’ll get in trouble in the future when it turns out I’m wrong… but there’s absolutely no way this is going to be less than $15 a month. They’re not going to undercut the price to add it to a TV subscription, unless this is a significantly lesser product. $20 is probably more likely; I think $15 is probably “correct” (in that it will be much more tempting for consumers while still maintaining their desired “premium” brand positioning relative to something like Netflix) and I’ll be impressed if they do that price point, but this is an area where we’re usually disappointed. What I’m really interested in is if there will be a minimum commitment. I have no desire to pay for a HBO subscription indefinitely, but I could be convinced to sign up for a few months each year: watch Game of Thrones as it airs, binge watch some of the backlog stuff, drop the subscription after that. I’m sure I could theoretically do that now, but I’d have to deal with cable company customer service an extra few times a year. This would presumably be a nice, seamless web page. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/25 "2014-10-16T15:39:40Z")
> [@Kiros](#): > > What I’m really interested in is if there will be a minimum commitment. I have no desire to pay for a HBO subscription indefinitely, but I could be convinced to sign up for a few months each year: watch Game of Thrones as it airs, binge watch some of the backlog stuff, drop the subscription after that. I’m sure I could theoretically do that now, but I’d have to deal with cable company customer service an extra few times a year. This would presumably be a nice, seamless web page. Good point. This is, of course, something HBO is not interested in happening. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/26 "2014-10-16T17:20:05Z")
And the balkanization begins. CBS is now offering it’s content as a standalone subscription for $6/month (and pretty much don’t provide it to Hulu Plus). I’m sure looking forward to paying every station $5-10 per month rather than getting them all via Netflix or Hulu for the same price. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/27 "2014-10-16T17:50:11Z")
Well… people have been clamoring for a la carte TV ;). ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/28 "2014-10-16T18:38:40Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > And the balkanization begins. CBS is now offering it’s content as a standalone subscription for $6/month (and pretty much don’t provide it to Hulu Plus). I’m sure looking forward to paying every station $5-10 per month rather than getting them all via Netflix or Hulu for the same price. Yeah, but CBS and many other networks put a lot of their shows on Amazon Instant. The big draw of this new HBO development is partially due to the fact that there has been no legal way to watch the latest HBO episodes short of getting a cable subscription. I’m interested in whether HBO will partner with Amazon to deliver this service. If so, it could tip the streaming scales in Amazon’s favor. I’d prefer a stand-alone service, like just paying $X/month for an HBOGo login. It’d be easy for them, since most of the infrastructure is already there (not counting upgrading servers to meet new demand). Of course, it may also be the least profitable way to do it, so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/29 "2014-10-16T18:42:13Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > And the balkanization begins. CBS is now offering it’s content as a standalone subscription for $6/month (and pretty much don’t provide it to Hulu Plus). I’m sure looking forward to paying every station $5-10 per month rather than getting them all via Netflix or Hulu for the same price. I’m not gonna. If it comes to that, I’ll get a standalone DVR and hook it up to my television. But I’m not paying each network channel for the privilege of streaming their content. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/30 "2014-10-16T19:33:35Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > No it’s not too early. This is great news! Goodbye DirectV! Burn in hell At&T. Adios Time Warner! Never again Comcast! Who do you get you internet from? A lot of people get their internet from the same people they get cable tv from. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/31 "2014-10-16T19:47:05Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Who do you get you internet from? A lot of people get their internet from the same people they get cable tv from. I don’t, but I live in a major city in the SF Bay Area, so maybe we have a lot more internet providers than other regions. But I haven’t used Comcast/AT&T/whatever cable company for my ISP for well over a decade, and I have great service. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/32 "2014-10-16T20:26:20Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Who do you get you internet from? A lot of people get their internet from the same people they get cable tv from. Not me. I am grandfathered under an unlimited Verizon wireless 4G LTE data account. I use about 80-110 GB of data each month. Pisses Verizon wireless off but they backed off on throttling it down after the FCC chair strongly suggested that they would be in an unfavorable position come the sell off auction of UHF frequencies coming up next year. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413/33 "2014-10-16T21:38:07Z")
Many of their old shows are now available for no added charge to Amazon Prime subscribers. I wonder how that’s been going. And I wonder if that offering will continue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-to-offer-web-based-stand-alone-subscriptions-starting-next-year/701413.md?page=1)