HBO Cuts Cord in Nordic Countries with Video Service

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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HBO has announced that the cable service will no longer be cable-centric….at least in four Nordic countries. HBO will be available to customers without subscribing to cable or satellite TV through Parsifal International’s online-only video channel. The rest of the world will have to not watch and wait to see if this trend will spread. This just goes to prove some people are still scared of Vikings. :D

HBO Nordic will cost $12.50 a month and gives subscribers access to all seasons of hit shows like Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and True Blood, as well as older shows like The Wire and full-length movies
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My brother works for Adult Swim and argued with me that HBO would never even consider this. I love being right so I can rub it in his face.
 
I would lover them to offer that here in the US but since Time Warner owns HBO, don't hold your breath on it happening soon or at all.

The moment they would offer this in the US would be the day cable died. I would drop my TV subscription in a heart beat.
 
Isn't this how HBO used to work? You paid a flat amount each month and you ran a separate box and antenna to access the service?

I remember this from when I was a kid, had to change the channel to 2 and then switch on the HBO box.
 
Guess who threw his TV out because he was sick of paying a $1 a day license for it, money that went towards channels he never watched?

This guy right here.

Finally I get to show HBO appreciation outside of buying box sets.
 
I would drop cable in a heart beat if I could get HBO stand alone.
 
SGTGimpy said:
I would lover them to offer that here in the US but since Time Warner owns HBO, don't hold your breath on it happening soon or at all.

The moment they would offer this in the US would be the day cable died. I would drop my TV subscription in a heart beat.
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^This times 1000.
 
They probably did this because those countries are running rampant with HBO piracy. So as a way to find a middle ground, HBO will offer it for free but you'll likely deal with commercials or ads on the site. Which at least HBO makes some sort of an amount of money.

The reason they won't do that here in the US is because people here are smart enough to buy cable. :rolleyes:
 
Ashbringer said:
They probably did this because those countries are running rampant with HBO piracy. So as a way to find a middle ground, HBO will offer it for free but you'll likely deal with commercials or ads on the site. Which at least HBO makes some sort of an amount of money.
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HBO can do this in other countries because there's no potential to harm Time Warner Cable's business model. Different story in the US.
 
Cute

Somebody remind HBO that while they are "Pricing out" stations that won't pay their exorbitant amounts to watch shows on their station, there is this thing, called the internet, which reaches -FUCKING EVERYWHERE-

And they even get that wrong, if you want Hulu Plus to watch those shows online the same day, you need to have a HBO channel subscription -PLUS- pay for Hulu Plus.

Fucking terrifying when its old media that doesn't understand the internet the worst, yet they are trying to control the laws surrounding the internet. Meanwhile all new tech companies like Google, Facebook, and almost every videogame developer who understands the internet and internet culture (Valve software) is making a fucking killing off it.
 
HBO, this is a step in the right direction. Do this in the US and I'll happily pay you $12.50/mo.
 
Seems like a lot of companies are starting to move in this direction. HBO is ahead of the curve for most of the television networks, hopefully this "experiment" will spread.

Interestingly, this is where net neutrality becomes a big deal. If the US ISPs get their way, they will start enforcing bandwidth caps on residential internet connections and exempt their own "cable" services from these caps. An example of this is AT&T U-Verse, which already delivers all of your TV channels via IP Multicast. What's the difference between watching HBO on U-Verse and HBO "Nordic"? You're paying AT&T instead of HBO.
 
The "cable company" (insert yours here) is one of those red-headed stepchild bastard corporations in the United States that has teased, taunted, lied to, over primsed, under delivered, annoyed, pissed off, and down right ripped off consumers for a long time.

People will literally laugh their asses off, go direct, and tap dance on the grave of companies like Time Warner, Comcast, etc. Of course as pointed out it's an intertwined business where a handful of companies own the majority of the content. If I were them, I would be very nervous and maybe even start being nicer to customers. In the end though, it's us (the consumer) that wins.
 
Nice boost to the hosting / remote box industry in these countries :p
 
I totally dig this idea, because think about it; because of the time zone differences, they'll be able to pirate copies onto the net 10 hours before it actually airs. Wicked!
 
mashie said:
And the benefits of being the countries with the highest online piracy strikes again.

First they got the standard delay for movie premiers removed and now this...
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Hell I've heard in some countries movie companies will release their warez publicly on DVD to avoid crappy theater recorded copies.

Called "R5"...heres the link describing it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R5_(bootleg)

The name R5 refers to DVD Region 5.[5] In an effort to compete with movie piracy in these areas, the movie industry chose to create a new format for DVD releases that could be produced more quickly and less expensively than traditional DVD releases.[6][7] R5 releases differ from normal releases in that they often lack both the image post-processing and special features that are common on DVD releases.[8] This allows the film to be released for sale at the same time that DVD screeners are released.
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How much longer are television networks and cable companies going to cling to their dying method of distribution? This seems like a small step in the right direction.
 
$12.50 a month, i'd buy that, and then cancel on off seasons.
 
man if they offered that here in australia then i'd never pirate hbo again. Instead i'd only pirate free to air tv cas i hate ads so much.
 
Hmm I get to watch all the HBO shows I want to see by just borrowing the boxsets as they appear in my local Library.

I reckon I get to see half a dozen or more HBO shows a year and they get maybe $1 in revenue from me. All legal too.
 
ICOM said:
HBO? People still purchase that?
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chad dawson vs andre ward this weekend!

fortunately i dont need to have an HBO subscription to purchase HBO PPV's (another good fight the following weekend)

showtime also has good fights

other than those networks, fight fans only source of boxing is ESPN FNF which is most often meh, so for someone like me, I'd gladly purchase HBO for $12.50/mo and just cancel my cable service as I never watch regular TV
 
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