Time Warner, the parent company of HBO, announced that the premium cable company that produces hit iconic shows, such as, The Sopranos, Curb Your Ethusiasm and Deadwood is finally going to make it's shows available online for free. I was excited when I first heard the news. I thought I would finally be able to watch the rest of Deadwood (an awesome show if you like westerns) and the last season of The Sopranos. Unfortunately, there are a few obstacles in my way which quickly dimmed my excitement:
First, they are going to test the service in Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The timetable for roll out to the rest of the nation has not yet been announced. You would think that steaming video technology had reached a point that a limited geographical test was not required. Look at all of the major networks, Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. However, HBO is doing things a little differently than anyone else.
Although they say the service is "free", that's not exactly the case. You need to already be a subscriber to HBO and you can only access the broadband service through your local cable provider. For instance, if you use Comcast for your cable television service and are a HBO subscriber and use Comcast as your Internet service provider then you will be able to get HBO online. However, if you use another Internet service provider, such, as Verizon DSL you are out of luck.
If that was not bad enough, HBO Broadband (the name of the new service) only works on Windows computers. Netflix is guilty of the same blunder. Come on guys, can't you figure out a way to make these videos available for Mac users, too?!?
HBO should sell it's shows on iTunes. That way they would be available to everyone (Windows and Mac users, as well as, Linux users via Wine or Codeweavers CrossOver) and they could make a ton of money. I am not one to usually buy television shows, but I might make the exception for HBO's shows because they are really that good and I want to be able to watch them when I want to.