HBO on Broadband
By Andrew Wallenstein
Today's THR has a look at HBO on Broadband, especially the irony that its introduction overlaps with a somewhat contradictory Time Warner Cable initiative: metered billing for high-speed data. Imagine streaming "The Wire" when you've got one eye on the clock.
But I wanted to provide more detail on the HBO on Broadband experience here. HBO on Broadband is available via an application downloaded to the desktop in just a few minutes. It can be accessed via log-in and password.
Shows are download-to-own and expire from a subscriber’s hard drive after four weeks of becoming available on HBO on Broadband. That means if a subscriber downloads the latest episode of “Wire” three weeks after it is placed on HBO on Broadband, that would leave only one week of viewing time.
The latest installment of a series currently in original episodes will be available one hour after they air on linear channels, which is actually faster than HBO On Demand (except in cases where HOD gets an episode prior to its linear premiere, like “Wire”). HBO will occasional make the entire backlog of a show available on the site if it’s not currently in original episodes.
HBO plans to refresh roughly one-quarter of the titles available on HBO on Broadband every week. While a subscriber of HBO on Broadband is limited to five desktop or laptops, it will eventually work with Windows portable devices as well. No Mac version is yet available, and burning to DVD is not an option.
HBO on Broadband also supplements the viewing experience with a “series pass” that automatically downloads all new episodes of favored shows; content “extras” like factoids about downloaded programs; a recommendation engine that makes viewing suggestions, and parental controls that limit viewing options for younger viewers, and a meter that allows you to see how much hard-drive space is being occupied by HBO programming.
HBO on Broadband will likely disappoint some TV fans who were hoping to access current HBO programming without subscribe to the linear service. But the company is very protective of its primary revenue stream, limiting the exposure of programming in digital windows until after they have been exploited in other secondary markets such as syndication and DVD.
Excellent!!! I hope to see this feature ex[and to the other on-demand channels!
Posted by: jennifer L. Laitano | May 17, 2008 at 07:54 PM