HBO considering offering HBO GO w/o cable

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://www.businessinsider.com/comcast-to-buy-time-warner-cable-2014-2

Where the hell is the DOJ or FCC on these deals? Did our anti-monopoly laws just get locked in a drawer somewhere and forgotten about? Bad enough when Comcast was allowed to buy NBC-Universal (no coincidence at all one of the FCC executives who pushed through that deal ended up becoming an executive at Comcast-Universal shortly after... )

By the way, don't underestimate Comcast snuggling with this administration.  Brian Roberts (CEO) s a big Obama donor as are many of his lieutenants.  Odds are, this gets passed....with restrictions, but I would be surprised if it doesn't get through.

[jesmu84]

By the way, don't underestimate Comcast snuggling with this administration.  Brian Roberts (CEO) s a big Obama donor as are many of his lieutenants.  Odds are, this gets passed....with restrictions, but I would be surprised if it doesn't get through.

Oh, I have no doubt it will go through. Too much money involved.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I was wrong, less than 1% of cable companies overlap territories in the United States.  I said 2% this morning.  Got the data today.  If you truly are in the less than 1%, you are in a very rare situation.

[jesmu84]

I was wrong, less than 1% of cable companies overlap territories in the United States.  I said 2% this morning.  Got the data today.  If you truly are in the less than 1%, you are in a very rare situation.

That's interesting. Having lived in Chicago and Indianapolis, I've been lucky to have at least 2 choices. 3 in Indy.

[ChicosBailBonds]

That's interesting. Having lived in Chicago and Indianapolis, I've been lucky to have at least 2 choices. 3 in Indy.

Whichever one you don't live in now, can you share that zip code?  I suspect you think you had 2 or 3, but you actually didn't.  Humor me and I can source it pretty quickly.

[jesmu84]

Whichever one you don't live in now, can you share that zip code?  I suspect you think you had 2 or 3, but you actually didn't.  Humor me and I can source it pretty quickly.

I believe I had 3 in 46203. (comcast, brighthouse, uverse)

[ChicosBailBonds]

I believe I had 3 in 46203. (comcast, brighthouse, uverse)

Uverse isn't cable, it's a Telco..it's AT&T fiber television (though much of it is still copper)....just like FiOS isn't cable, it is also a Telco (Verizon).  I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes in, people lump them all together but they aren't.

[jesmu84]

Uverse isn't cable, it's a Telco..it's AT&T fiber television (though much of it is still copper)....just like FiOS isn't cable, it is also a Telco (Verizon).  I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes in, people lump them all together but they aren't.

Gotcha. Well, 2 then, I guess.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Gotcha. Well, 2 then, I guess.

You are one of the rarest of the rares.  I don't know your street address, but looking at Sherman and other streets in that zip code, two cable providers...Comcast (Xfinity..same thing) and Brighthouse.   You are a 1%er.  Wear it proudly.

BrightHouse is a unique story in that it used to be several other companies and TWC still negotiates all their deals on their behalf, so they are essentially TWC light, but they are their own company now since 2003. 

[Spotcheck Billy]

ESPN launched 15 conference-specific channels for its online outlet, WatchESPN, the media company announced on Thursday.
 
The channels can be streamed to television via Apple TV or Roku, and they will feature live men's and women's college basketball games and replays of college football games. With conference basketball tournaments on the horizon, ESPN is offering a platform for most Division I conferences around the country. Those included are the ACC, America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, MEAC, SWAC, CIA, Horizon, MAC, MAAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Southland. ESPN plans on broadcasting more than 2,000 live men's and women's games during conference tournaments.
 
The deal doesn't include the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or SEC because those conferences either already have or are planning to launch their own networks.
http://www.sbnation.com/2014/2/27/5453344/espn-conference-channels-watchespn

[ChicosBailBonds]

ESPN launched 15 conference-specific channels for its online outlet, WatchESPN, the media company announced on Thursday.
 
The channels can be streamed to television via Apple TV or Roku, and they will feature live men's and women's college basketball games and replays of college football games. With conference basketball tournaments on the horizon, ESPN is offering a platform for most Division I conferences around the country. Those included are the ACC, America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, MEAC, SWAC, CIA, Horizon, MAC, MAAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Southland. ESPN plans on broadcasting more than 2,000 live men's and women's games during conference tournaments.
 
The deal doesn't include the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or SEC because those conferences either already have or are planning to launch their own networks.
http://www.sbnation.com/2014/2/27/5453344/espn-conference-channels-watchespn

Damon Phillips...good buddy of mine, former DIRECTV employee.  This is all for lower end conferences.  They aren't going to do anything that hurts their $$$$ streams.  ESPN has some really big contracts up this year and they need to get carriage for the SEC network.  Fun fun times.

[Spotcheck Billy]

Damon Phillips...good buddy of mine, former DIRECTV employee.  This is all for lower end conferences.  They aren't going to do anything that hurts their $$$$ streams.  ESPN has some really big contracts up this year and they need to get carriage for the SEC network.  Fun fun times.

The ACC being the exception

[ChicosBailBonds]

The ACC being the exception

From what I understand, you're talking about things like ACC women's field hockey, or some obscure games in other sports, though I'm trying to get confirmation.  Here again is where this gets very interesting.  You have ESPN wanting to launch these things and monetize them, while also jacking up their prices considerably for satellite, cable and telco distributors while ALSO trying to get all of them to carry SEC and other services.  You can imagine how that can get rather complicated very quickly.   

[ChicosBailBonds]

Spoke to him today, actually it will have men's and women's hoops, even some football.  Here's the part none of the articles spoke of.....authentication required on all.  Basically you need to be a subscriber of pay television to get it.

[ChicosBailBonds]

U.S. sides with the networks over Aereo in friend of the court brief.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57619849-93/us-sides-with-networks-against-aereo-in-supreme-court-fight/

Going to be interesting

[jesmu84]

U.S. sides with the networks over Aereo in friend of the court brief.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57619849-93/us-sides-with-networks-against-aereo-in-supreme-court-fight/

Going to be interesting

i wonder why... 

[ChicosBailBonds]

i wonder why... 

Copyright law means something in this country, and Aereo is violating copyright law.  That's for starters.

[brandx]

Copyright law means something in this country, and Aereo is violating copyright law.  That's for starters.

That's the crux of the issue. If a band puts their music online for free, it isn't a copyright issue if people download it and play it. Aereo is arguing it is not a violation because the content they are distributing is available for free to anyone that wants it. They claim that since these are over the air channels whose content they want to distribute, rather than cable channels who charge a fee to broadcast their content, they are not in violation of any law.

[Coleman]

Hoopalooping this thread to see how Chicos reconciles this with his claim that this would never happen

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/business/amazon-to-offer-original-hbo-content.html?_r=0


Yes, mostly older shows (although not entirely, some new stuff too). But I think this is just the beginning. This model will take off.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Hoopalooping this thread to see how Chicos reconciles this with his claim that this would never happen

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/business/amazon-to-offer-original-hbo-content.html?_r=0


Yes, mostly older shows (although not entirely, some new stuff too). But I think this is just the beginning. This model will take off.

LOL.  Uhm, no.  This is a licensing deal, nothing more.  I've been involved with this for some time because of the contractual issues for MVPDs.  When the announcement was made yesterday I was waiting to see who would bring this up first.  The amount of incorrect data in the media yesterday about this deal was funny to watch.  I probably had 7 calls with HBO yesterday about the inaccuracies being reported.  You said some "new stuff"..exactly what new stuff would that be?  Shows currently running like VEEP?  Not exactly.

The deal is for content 3+ years and older.  Certain series are excluded ENTIRELY....little tiny series like Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm, True Detective franchise, etc, etc.   This is why I say "not exactly" for the new stuff.  Sure, VEEP content will be on there, but you have to wait for it to be 3 years old or older.  If you had a HBO subscription, you get all of that stuff included with no wait as part of OnDemand or HBO Go.

When I say licensing deal, no different than what HBO has done with Sex and the City on TBS, SpikeTV and such.  It's a way for them to monetize old stuff.  The guy who did the deal for Amazon is Brad Beale, a former colleague of mine.  He's an engineer by trade, but got in on the programming side with Amazon a few years ago.

Let's be clear on what I also said in the past.  I did not say it will never happen, I said this idea it is happening soon just because people want it too is wrong.  HBO makes billions off MVPDS without having to incur the lion's share of marketing costs, no support costs (call centers, agents, etc) and few technical costs.  An enormous savings for them.  If they decide to go direct, which certainly they can, they get to incur those things.  They also know the billions they get now is in jeopardy.  The same reason Dish, Directv, and others stopped carrying WWE events.

[chapman]

Hoopalooping this thread to see how Chicos reconciles this with his claim that this would never happen

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/business/amazon-to-offer-original-hbo-content.html?_r=0


Yes, mostly older shows (although not entirely, some new stuff too). But I think this is just the beginning. This model will take off.

Now I hope the weather sucks this summer.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Bye bye Aereo.  Supreme Court rules against.  You can't just steal stuff.

[ChicosBailBonds]

It's over.  "We did try, but it's over now"

http://www.deadline.com/2014/06/aereo-stock-prices-broadcasters-supreme-court/

[Benny B]

Jus. Breyer basically laid the groundwork for a simple workaround.

"We believe that resolution of questions about cloud computing, remote storage DVRs and other novel matters not now before us should await a case in which they are clearly presented," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote.

Somebody is going to package a device that has an antenna, hard drive, and ethernet link all built in, basically a DVR on steroids.  The difference is that most every cable subscriber has something like this already, not all are accessible on your devices.  So if the broadcasters go after "Aereo Jr.", they're also going to have to go after all of their distributors.

My guess is that ATV is only a generation or two from being able to pull and cloud OTA signals that you can access anywhere.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Jus. Breyer basically laid the groundwork for a simple workaround.

"We believe that resolution of questions about cloud computing, remote storage DVRs and other novel matters not now before us should await a case in which they are clearly presented," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote.

Somebody is going to package a device that has an antenna, hard drive, and ethernet link all built in, basically a DVR on steroids.  The difference is that most every cable subscriber has something like this already, not all are accessible on your devices.  So if the broadcasters go after "Aereo Jr.", they're also going to have to go after all of their distributors.

My guess is that ATV is only a generation or two from being able to pull and cloud OTA signals that you can access anywhere.

Ain't about the pipes.  The ruling still gets down to content.  Problem was, Aereo offered a "cheap" solution by essentially stealing (not paying the content providers) for their copyrighted content.  That's what this and the future is all about.  Cloud DVR, how it is delivered, etc, that will change...technology isn't the issue.  Disney, NewsCorp, CBS, etc want to be paid.  The reason they don't go after all the distributors is because all the distributors are paying for those rights.  All Aereo had to do was compensate the content creators, of course to do that means they couldn't offer a product like this because it costs money, lots of money, for content.

As mentioned here months ago, I was pretty certain this was going to be how SCOTUS ruled today.  Surprised to see Scalia, Thomas and Alito in the dissent, but even reading their dissent they were not crazy about the copyright infringement going on.

If people want cheaper television or video, my mantra continues.  You need to crack the code with those that make the content and sell it at such a high cost.  The source product is very expensive, very very expensive.  Solve that issue, and video becomes cheaper.  Delivery mechanism isn't the issue, it is content cost.