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I am sure HBO would love to have people like you who don't have cable as subscribers. I don't have cable because I don't see anything there of value, since I c

by amalag 14y ago

I am sure HBO would love to have people like you who don't have cable as subscribers. I don't have cable because I don't see anything there of value, since I can watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Hulu and get movies on Netflix. A coworker also cut his cable. He couldn't justify almost $80 a month. He said the only thing he watched was HBO and another premium channel. The CEO's point was it is difficult to target cable cord cutters because they have already have a business model that is profitable. The telephone salesman cannot say "You can take HBO with your $50 cable or you could just buy a $10 internet subscription plan for HBO, please buy cable anyway" They cannot retool their business to compete with standalone Netflix. I would love for them to offer there shows on Netflix like AMD does, but oh well. I personally have pirated true blood last year, but I am now just going to wait 1 year to see the next season as I waited to see game of thrones when it comes on Netflix DVD. I guess it doesn't put much money in HBO's pocket, but I guess it's better than pirating. But I know people who gotta have their fix. I appreciate this synopsis of the original article. The Forbes article really was linkbait.

cube13 14y ago
>The CEO's point was it is difficult to target cable cord cutters because they have already have a business model that is profitable. The telephone salesman cannot say "You can take HBO with your $50 cable or you could just buy a $10 internet subscription plan for HBO, please buy cable anyway" I would agree with this, if HBO didn't already have the infrastructure to target cable cord cutters. If HBO had to develop their own streaming service, authentication, a pricing model, etc., then he'd have a point. It would take at least a year to get to that point, on both the technology and legal side. The argument could be made there that the investment isn't worth it, considering the current earnings. The problem is that they have already done that. HBO Go. So it really doesn't make sense why they're not trying to get non-subscribers. I think that the fundamental problem with the HBO execs is that they've convinced themselves that the only market they should target is cable subscribers. But that market is shrinking, due mostly to services like Netflix and Hulu, especially in the demographics that they're targeting.

by amalag 14y ago

cube13 14y ago

>The CEO's point was it is difficult to target cable cord cutters because they have already have a business model that is profitable. The telephone salesman cannot say "You can take HBO with your $50 cable or you could just buy a $10 internet subscription plan for HBO, please buy cable anyway" I would agree with this, if HBO didn't already have the infrastructure to target cable cord cutters. If HBO had to develop their own streaming service, authentication, a pricing model, etc., then he'd have a point. It would take at least a year to get to that point, on both the technology and legal side. The argument could be made there that the investment isn't worth it, considering the current earnings. The problem is that they have already done that. HBO Go. So it really doesn't make sense why they're not trying to get non-subscribers. I think that the fundamental problem with the HBO execs is that they've convinced themselves that the only market they should target is cable subscribers. But that market is shrinking, due mostly to services like Netflix and Hulu, especially in the demographics that they're targeting.