HBO on Your PC?

HBO On Broadband will allow customers to download movies and TV shows so long as they already subscribe to HBO and have a broadband connection from that same cable provider.

Tomorrow HBO will test out a new service called “HBO on Broadband” in the cities of Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The new service is free, but users are required to subscribe to both HBO and the cable company’s high-speed online service which, in this case, is Time Warner Cable’s RoadRunner Broadband.

“For a segment of our subscribers who want to access content through their PC, they now have the ability to do that,” said HBO co-prexy Eric Kessler, who oversees the new platform.

Available for download will be a selection of selected past episodes of HBO shows like “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City,” along with recent segs “Flight of the Conchords” and “Real Time With Bill Maher,” among others.

HBO On Broadband also will feature HBO Films,theatricals, comedy specials, sports, kids programs, original Spanish-language programs, documentaries and “latenight” fare (”Real Sex”), all from the channel. The service also will feature bonus materials (such as “making of” clips) and cast information and list the contents of a movie’s soundtrack.

With people increasingly turning to the PC for content it may just be the trick needed by HBO to maintain subscribers, but how long will it be before these people tire of having to maintain a digital cable package as well? What would really be amazing is if HBO simply offered HBO On Broadband to anybody willing to pony up the $10 or $15 bucks they charge each month.

Cable packages are such bloated monstrocities in my opinion(Golf Channel anyone?) that many people don’t bother to subscribe to HBO because they’re already paying for 1000 channels they already watch few of. HBO On Broadband may just convince them that it’s worth it, especially if it means being able to access that content from anywhere at anytime which it apparently does. Now If HBO was really smart it would try to distinguish itself a bit by offering HBO On Broadband as a stand alone service to broadband customers without requiring them to simultaneously maintain a standard digital cable package.

Either way, at least HBO’s thinking outside the box on this one.

[Via USAToday]

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