The battle for standalone HBO GO
When the premium cable channel HBO created its own online, on-demand service, subscribers rejoiced. The two-year-old HBO GO gives current customers unlimited access to all of HBO's original programming (including the complete series of "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos"), documentaries, and movies 鈥� all free of charge.
Wordpress designer Jake Caputo wants HBO GO. Badly. But without a cable subscription (let alone paying extra for HBO), he is out of luck.聽Like many young Americans, Mr. Caputo watches most, if not all, of his TV online.
There should be a way to get HBO GO without a cable subscription, he says. Caputo is willing to pay for the service. To make his point, Caputo launched聽TakeMyMoneyHBO.com.
鈥淲e pirate 鈥�Game of Thrones,鈥� we use our friend鈥檚 鈥楬BO GO鈥� login to watch 鈥�True Blood,鈥� 鈥� says the website. 鈥淧lease HBO, offer a standalone HBO GO streaming service and take my money!鈥�
One day after the site went live, Time Warner Cable Vice President Fernando Laguarda took notice 鈥� and voiced his disapproval.
鈥淸H]ow much would you pay for a health club with just the equipment you use? #economics #impractical,鈥� Mr. Laguarda wrote on Twitter.
In other words, Time Warner 鈥� of which HBO is a subsidiary 鈥� isn鈥檛 too keen on the idea of a standalone HBO GO streaming service. But Caputo, who says his website has gotten 鈥渙verwhelmingly positive鈥� feedback, is still pushing to make HBO GO available to any Internet user willing to pay a monthly fee.
鈥淚鈥檝e read and heard that it can鈥檛 happen because [HBO鈥檚] too tied into the cable and satellite companies, which I find hard to believe,鈥� Caputo says in an email interview. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about some of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world. If they wanted to offer HBO GO as a standalone product, they could figure out how to do so.鈥�
TakeMyMoneyHBO.com allows visitors to post a message on Twitter saying how much money they鈥檇 pay for a monthly standalone HBO GO subscription. In its first day online, the site got , and the average amount visitors said they鈥檇 pay was about $12, . (HBO costs $10 to $20, depending on the cable package.)
However, Tech Crunch writer Ryan Lawler argues that $12 seems like enough for HBO, but that actually implementing a standalone service would be difficult.
鈥淗BO currently has about 29 million subscribers, and reportedly receives around $7 or $8 per subscriber per month,鈥� he writes. 鈥淪o HBO could, theoretically, get more per subscriber than it鈥檚 currently making. But that doesn鈥檛 include the cost of infrastructure needed to support delivery of all those streams, including all the [online] delivery and other costs that would come with rolling out a broader online-only service.鈥�
鈥淢ost importantly,鈥� he continues, 鈥済oing direct to online customers by pitching HBO GO over-the-top would mean losing the support of its cable, satellite, and IPTV distributors.鈥�
Caputo says that cable companies such as Comcast needn't worry about HBO GO splitting off.聽鈥淚 have Comcast internet service, so why can鈥檛 I have HBO GO for $40 paid to Comcast each month?鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat would at least be a step in the right direction to open it up to more users.鈥�
Caputo says his end goal is to convince HBO that HBO GO should be available to anyone with Internet access. But so far, getting the company's attention is good enough.
鈥淟ove the love for HBO. Keep it up. For now, @RyanLawler @TechCrunch has it right,鈥� HBO tweeted June 6th.
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