HBO GO
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 · 
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Here we go again. HBO has entered into the online video market with it’s “HBO GO” product. They describe the service on their website:
It’s HBO. Anywhere.
Unlimited Access- Gain instant access to hundreds of titles including HBO Original Series, blockbuster movies, sports and more in high-quality HD. Plus, get bonus features and exclusive behind-the-scenes extras.
Watch anytime, anywhere- Watch HBO GO wherever you go- from your laptop or desktop. Pause, fast-forward, rewind and view at your convenience.
Make it your own- Create personal Watchlists and set a Series Pass to access your favorite HBO shows automatically.
HBO GO. Free with your HBO subscription.
It’s that last sentence that is interesting to me. To the consumer it is “free”. But I wonder if it is free to the video provider. I don’t think it would be like an ESPN 360 model because the service is only available to those customers with a subscription (as opposed to a fee being leveraged on every broadband subscriber). At a minimum, a telco would likely see increased bandwidth usage with such a service.
Fortunately (or unfortunately), smaller providers don’t likely have to worry about this service yet. It appears that it is only available to Comcast or FiOS customers at the moment. I’d look for more information on the business model and user impressions in the coming weeks.
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Just a note to anyone that may want to try HBO GO. There is a list of MVPDs that you will need to select from in order to gain access to the content. If your current provider is not listed, you won’t have immediate access. HBO is providing a “browse” function so you can see what is available.
The indication at the site is that if your provider is not currently listed, you should come back from time to time to see when it is added.
HBO has included a link for those that do not currently subscribe to HBO.
It appears that the programming available “on-demand” mirrors the linear channel original content as well as a few major motion pictures.