HBO's Streaming Service May Cost Almost 2X as Much as Netflix

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

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There is usually a catch when you get really good news, always waiting for that ‘but’ that always lingers at the end. With the news HBO is finally creating a freestanding service, the ‘but’ looms overhead like the Sword of Damocles. In this case, the eventual higher cost of standalone service to consumers according to Martin Peers over at The Information.

It's unclear if consumers will be willing to pay a $15 subscription, especially when there are other cheaper ways of getting that same content.
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They'll still make a ton of money. If the price was too competitive, the cable and satellite companies would demand new contract deals.
 
15$ is too much, if it were 10$ I would consider it. It needs to be competitive if it's only their content. 15$ would be great if it were like when Netflix had the Starz movie selections.
 
Not even worth a second look at that price point. No way in hell
 
That shouldn't be a problem for people willing to entirely dump their TV subscription and have just HBO and Netflix together. Cable packages start at $45/mo on promo pricing and then that can go up to $70 after the promo is over and that doesn't even include HBO! You could pay for two or three streaming services a month and probably come out at around $30 and still be saving tons of money in the long run and you're not feeding the Comcast beast.
 
NWIH!

Curious to see how much Marketing muscle hbo will try to put behind this.
 
Happy to pay $15 per month. Even with 4k Netflix at $12, and Hulu at $8, I'm coming in for a grand total of $35. Compared against $60 for basic no DVR service with cable company, and up to $90 for HD with two DVR receives (still no HBO), it would easily trump the alternative [legal] means to seeing GoT and others.
 
There are only a few shows on HBO that I watch, no way I'd pay 15$ a month to watch em.
 
I don't think $15 is terrible. If I were to buy a season of Game of Thrones from iTunes, it'd cost me about $40 (I think).
The kicker - does HBO have enough content? Movies are a little interesting - but I already have a large selection through other services like Netflix, Prime, and Hulu Plus.
I haven't watched other series besides GOT. GOT is what, 10 or 12 episodes per season?

I'm still glad they are giving the option to access it without cable. I think the market will help reign in prices.
 
I'd pay for, say, a month or two, watch what I'd like to watch and then cancel the subscription.

Rinse and repeat on an annual basis?
 
Given their high quality offerings (and if they restrict their shows to only their service) I think this is very competitive ... Especially if you want to be a cord cutter ... Since you can't get hbo without some minimum level of cable, you are paying 60 or more now for hbo ... This is cheaper if your primary interest is hbo only
 
I'd pay $15 a month for HBO, probably 9 months a year. That plus Netflix for $25 a month, is still reasonable vs the necessity of a cable sub to get HBO currently.
 
doesn't HBO cost around $15 when you want it with a cable package? Doesn't sound unreasonable to cost that for online content. At least if you are able to have a true watch what you want when you want approach. If it's simply a stream of what is normally on TV then maybe not so much.
 
I would happily pay 15 dollars a month for HBO Go... I can't believe the amount of whinging over the price - that's about what a subscription to HBO already costs (which comes with access to HBO Go). Did you guys really expect it to be cheaper?

HBO has a lot of quality content - Game of Thrones in the big name, but I enjoy many of their other series as well. I thought the Leftovers was pretty good, John Oliver's show isgreat, Bill Maher, Broadwalk Empire is on it's final season, but I've heard good things about that. They have a smaller selection of movies that is constantly rotating, but they are recent releases and not the same stale catalog you get on the other services.

15 dollars a month is a bargain if they offer the same content they currently offer with HBO Go.
 
HBO Go offers more content than HBO or HBO onDemand for Charter. I probably won't get it since it offers less content than Neflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu Plus. I really enjoy John Oliver's show when I am visiting my parents, but I am not a fan of any HBO series. They tend to have too many arcs and barely any of the arcs progress in one season.
 
I don't think I would be willing to pay that much, but the market will decided. If it is too much the people that pirate because there is little other choice past waiting til DVD/BR will keep pirating. The pirates are going to keep pirating regardless.
There is also the tiny suspicion that they want to fail, so they can say, "look, we tried but piracy." The industry as a whole still seems unhappy, out of sorts, and over all just clueless with/about the internet.
 
Pricing Netflix @ $7.99 is felonious...;) Some movies are not available except on DVD, and then your cost jumps to ~$16 for both "plans", and if you do like I do and also pickup the Blu-Ray package, your price goes to >$18 a month.

Whether or not $15 a month is high will depend on the kind of library HBO will offer; whether or not there will be a "SuperHD" version of the service, etc.
 
Lets just call this what it really is.......


Game of Thrones TV
 
That price only make sense to me if you can drop your cable service. And whether you can do that or not depends on the shows you watch, and the pricing of a-la-cart internet vs bundled with tv. In my case, there are certain shows that both myself and my GF watch that cannot be found online or through netflix/hulu/amazon/etc, or they are just too much of a pain in the ass to get. For that reason, I'll probably never be able to cut the cord. And that really sucks. I wish there was a service like netflix that could get all shows and all movies in a reasonable amount of time. I would easily pay netflix $40+ per month if I could access all my shows, and we could get all new movie releases at the same time the blu-rays come out. Prob never gonna happen though.
 
Let's not forget something else that makes this price unattractive, you have to stream it using your internet connection. Which, by the time this service comes out, will likely be capped. So the price is really poor considering it will likely also cost you who knows how much in data overages. Think I'm confusing my home internet with my phone? Extremely low cable/dsl data caps are closer than you think.
 
Given that HBO cost ~$20 on Dish...

Seems like cheaper then I thought they would offer.

Will be interesting to see how they handle "pop-in" customers. As has already been said, if you can wait, just sign up after the seasons are over and watch them back to back for a month or 2 then cancel.

I think Netflix sort of saw that coming and releases a whole season at a time, which is a pretty cool idea.
 
Sorry, 180 a year for a couple decent original shows and tons of shovelware crap is simply too damn much money.
 
$15 a month initially seemed outrageous to me. But when you look at it closer it may not be that bad. It usually costs about $15 to have HBO when you have cable or satellite. So to be able to get it without a cable or satellite subscription doesn't seem all that bad actually.
 
Fuck that noise. My girlfriend and I just binge on the new seasons of Game of Thrones when it gets released to bluray. I have absolutely no problem not being current on shows (no social media here!) and would rather see the story arcs for a season play out in one fell swoop.
 
Everyone asked for an option(looking at you Australians) and now they bitch that it's too much. It would probably be best if you just stick to pirating and stop pretending you would ever pay for it unless it was an unrealistic price like $2/month. Netflix is fine for what it provides, but 90% of it is shit with a few gems here and there. Hard to compare to HBO where each show is pretty well made with a budget of more than $5.
 
Considering they wanted Netflix to charge $13 / month to every customer in order to carry their content I am not surprised at their price for their standalone service.
 
For all those going on about how it's too expensive you guys seriously underestimate how many people are keeping cable and satellite just for the pay channels. IIRC $15 us about what HBO costs with a cable sub being $15 on its own it's just fine. If you're unwilling to pay that much it's not like you would get it anyway.
 
djoye said:
That shouldn't be a problem for people willing to entirely dump their TV subscription and have just HBO and Netflix together. Cable packages start at $45/mo on promo pricing and then that can go up to $70 after the promo is over and that doesn't even include HBO! You could pay for two or three streaming services a month and probably come out at around $30 and still be saving tons of money in the long run and you're not feeding the Comcast beast.
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Good plan except much of the country (even more if/when the TWC merger happens) uses Comcast for internet to stream their TV replacement to their homes. Either way, they still get paid.
 
This is a good development, a smart business move, and a step in the right direction. Not all of us will be willing to pay $15 / mo, of course, but enough will to add to HBO's bottom line. The problem, as I see it, is balkanization. Want to watch Game of Thrones? Log on to HBO. Want to watch 60 Minutes? Log on to CBS. Want to watch a movie from last year? Make the rounds between HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and possibly more to see who has it. I hope you can remember all those passwords!

People want a single platform where they can find what they're looking for, a Steam for TV and movies, if you will. The content providers need to either partner with Netflix or Amazon or allow Hulu to beef up their selection and get rid of commercials. The way forward is definitely not for every network to launch their own portals.
 
Price really isn't that big a of deal for me seeing how I'm only going to subscribe when the new season of Game of Thrones airs.
 
BladeVenom said:
That may be a common list price, but with package deals and specials most people pay less than that for HBO.
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List price is about $18. From looking around the cheaper deals are around $10 and pretty short duration $15ish is more common for package deals.
 
If it isn't worth $15+ on my cable bill, it certainly isn't worth $15+ by itself. Cheaper just to wait for the Bluray releases of their shows and buy them.
 
HBOgo is nice as an addition to their existing cable service, but they really need to beef it up if they expect to pay $15 a month for it.

Their selection of movies is pretty sparse. Its basically just $15 for a handful of shows as someone said. If they want to compete with netflix(especially at a higher price) they need more content.
 
reFre5h said:
15$ is too much, if it were 10$ I would consider it. It needs to be competitive if it's only their content. 15$ would be great if it were like when Netflix had the Starz movie selections.
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I could be wrong, but don't most of the cable/sat services charge $17.00 for the first premium? There could be an advantage to those, if they come packaged with Cinemax, but if your goal is to get out of paying for most basic cable, this doesn't seem awful (but I agree that $10 is a better price point, especially since that's roughly what Comcast charged for it a year ago.
 
I'd be in if the cost was around $9 to $10 a month if the service wasn't shitty.
 
WaltC said:
Pricing Netflix @ $7.99 is felonious...;) Some movies are not available except on DVD, and then your cost jumps to ~$16 for both "plans", and if you do like I do and also pickup the Blu-Ray package, your price goes to >$18 a month.

Whether or not $15 a month is high will depend on the kind of library HBO will offer; whether or not there will be a "SuperHD" version of the service, etc.
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So basically your argument is "whaaaa, I want everything for free!"

Seriously though, did anyone expect HBO without a cable subscription to cost less than it does with a cable subscription?

I've said again and again that the only thing al la carte pricing will do is decrease the number of channels you are able to see, while increasing the price.
 
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