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The other major factor is that they can often predict income from cable subscribers, where online-only could potentially come and go as they please. If you only
by eddieroger 14y ago
The other major factor is that they can often predict income from cable subscribers, where online-only could potentially come and go as they please. If you only like Curb Your Enthusiasm, sign up when it premiers, cancel when it ends. Or worse, sign up when it ends and watch it over the course of a month. Compare this to cable subscribers, where you get a reduced rate (often) for a three month block, so long as you stay subscribed. It's a lot more predictable this way, and can extend out to predicting how many won't actually cancel, etc.
In the world where HBO can predict income, they can afford to take a leap and buy a whole season of an expensive show like Game of Thrones on a gamble (which it was). Online-only makes this comfort go away, reducing the potential quality of the product, and creating a spiral of losing subscribers.
- illuminate 14y ago"If you only like Curb Your Enthusiasm, sign up when it premiers, cancel when it ends" You still have to have an existing cable television subscription for this.
- eddieroger 14y agoIn today's model, yes. I meant it more in the context of digital-only subscriptions, where you could theoretically sign up for a month of service and get all the programming you wanted. In that sitaution, HBO can't plan their income sinnce they will have intermittent spurts of subscribers with no expectation of sustained income.