[opendtv] Re: Cablevision to offer HBO Now streaming service - MarketWatch

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 04:11:26 -0400

> On Mar 22, 2015, at 9:09 PM, Manfredi, Albert E 
> <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Blocking access is exactly what all the other MVPD/ISPs have been doing. 
> Blocking access to HBO Now.

That's absurd Bert.

First, the service does not start until April - you can't block something that 
does not exist yet.

Second, it will be available from Apple to ANYONE with broadband. 

> That's what the articles mean, when they say that Cablevision is the first to 
> buckle.

No Bert. The onLy change is that this service does not require a subscription 
to a MVPD bundle as well. And this is already possible from almost all MVPDs. 
Comcast charges $39.99/mo for a package that includes HBO, broadband and local 
channels.


> Here, read this one (another one of many, not repeating ones I already 
> posted, which makes the same points):
> 
> http://www.tomsguide.com/us/cablevision-hbo-now,news-20652.html
> 
> "Cable Surrenders: Cablevision First ISP to Offer HBO Now"

Gotta love this author. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill:

> In any case, ordering just HBO represents the platonic ideal of TV watchers 
> and especially cord cutters: Give me just the channels I want, and don't make 
> me pay for hundreds that I don't care about. It also seemed like an 
> impossible dream until this year. Why would cable providers give up the cash 
> cow of deluxe TV packages, just to sell a cheaper, streamlined package?

HBO Now does not give cord cutters just the channels they want. Nor does Dish 
Sling. Nor will Apple.

Yes, there was a time when many systems only offered HBO as a premium add on to 
other video services. That has not been the case for more than a year - decades 
if you only wanted basic analog cable. 

The reality is that HBO Now will be available to anyone with broadband - for 
the first 90 days from Apple, then other non-MVPD middlemen will be added. So 
MVPDs have a choice: offer HBO Now to their subscribers, or risk having them 
buy the service from Apple or the others that will follow.


> Notice how it asks why the MVPD/ISP would agree to giving up this "cash cow," 
> and how the answer is that they "have no choice." Not because of the FCC, not 
> until Title II becomes law for ISPs anyway, but because of consumers and 
> content owners.

All business decisions. Their exclusive with HBO is over.


> 
> Read this part:
> 
> "With HBO's announcement last week that it will offer its full service 
> online, cable companies **--> can no longer hold it back <--** as an 
> incentive to pay for their deluxe service package. And this isn't an isolated 
> case. HBO Now follows online offers of other premium channels, including AMC 
> and ESPN, on the $20-per-month Sling TV service (see review) that launched in 
> February."

Not accurate. Sling is still a bundle of channels - a smaller bundle, but the 
subscriber does not get to choose the channels in the bundle. HBO Now is not a 
bundle - it never was. It is a premium service that was formerly sold as an add 
on to MVPD bundles. Now you can buy it like Netflix.
> 
> See that part I highlighted? See why the MVPDs want to block? Tell me this: 
> what do you think the words mean, when they say "hold [HBO] back,"

It means that like many other premium services - Showtime, Starz, etc. - you 
needed to subscribe to another video bundle to buy it. Truth is that hardly 
anyone wants JUST HBO, or JUST Netflix. So all this noise from the author is 
mostly meaningless. 

The fact that less than 30% of MVPD homes buy HBO should tell you something 
Bert. The subscribers were the ones holding back, not the MVPD services. Do you 
really believe that tens of millions of homes will subscribe to HBO Now just 
because it is now available without other MVPD services?

Whoops. Now I did it. It STILL requires a broadband subscription, which will 
likely be provided by a MVPD. $39.99/mo from Comcast, and you get local 
channels too. And you don't have to wait til April.


> Craig, and how is this not equivalent to "blocking"?

Because they are not blocking anything. If they block HBO Now from Apple when 
it launches in April you would have a case here. But that's not going to happen.

> Are you really going to keep insisting on this point, Craig? Also notice how 
> they include ESPN and others in that same excerpt, even though you keep 
> pretending ESPN is somehow fundamentally different?

Stupid author trying to make baseless arguments like you. 

You cannot get ESPN or AMC ala carte. You still need to have broadband and pay 
for what will eventually be 20 or more channels.

>> Some analysts were astute enough to figure out that HBO was
>> using the new service to gain leverage over the MVPDs and
>> increase the revenue split with potential new middlemen.
>> 
>> Please show me any article that conflicts with what I just
>> said.
> 
> Substantiate that, Craig.

I did. You ignored it.

> And also substantiate that HBO was not simply doing what it claimed, to get 
> back the viewership it was losing. Bewkes was super clear on his motivations. 
> You are responsible for substantiating your claims. I'm not the one that 
> should do so.

Yes, HBO Now is targeted at Cord Cutters. But you are incorrect that these 
people represent lost HBO subscribers. No doubt there are a few cord cutters 
who also subscribed to HBO, but most did not. Bewkes ALSO said he hoped that 
people who have never subscribed to HBO from a MVPD will sign up for HBO Now.

We'll see.
> 
>> And there is another option:
> 
> This "other option" is the content owner giving up, because ISPs are not yet 
> governed by Title II. The "other option," as you call it, is to put a Netflix 
> in among the walled-in MVPD bundles and tiers, MVPD as gatekeeper, requiring 
> a rented box to watch it. Anticompetitive, compared with direct access, and 
> clearly a result of non-neutral access to the Internet. And clearly, NOT in 
> the best interests of many consumers!

It's not in YOUR interest Bert. The examples I cited are just another way to 
get Netflix on a TV, using a TiVo box rather than an Apple TV, Roku or other 
device. Netflix is ALSO available to the broadband subscribers to these cable 
systems using an Apple TV, Roku etc.
> 
> . On this latest example, any number of articles explain why MVPDs don't like 
> HBO Now, and they all explain that the middleman stands to lose revenues. 
> That's NOT A VALID REASON for blocking, under Title II, Craig. Other times, 
> the facts are even more black and white, and yet you remain undeterred.

They are not blocking anything Bert. Title II has nothing to do with it.

 MVPDs offer HBO as a premium add on channel to their MVPD service, delivered 
over their wires, fibers or satellites, NOT THE INTERNET. These subscribers 
ALSO have TVE access to HBO Go via the Internet.

Now there is another way to get HBO. The MVPDs have the option of offering HBO 
Now to their broadband subscribers - if they don't these broadband subscribers 
cab buy HBO Now from Apple and the other OTT services that will offer it after 
the Apple exclusive.
> 
> And why would you think that two wrongs make a right?

They are not wrongs. They are products available to ANYONE.

> These are all examples of attempts at balkanization. Simple fact is, though, 
> HBO was smart enough to not pay attention to any such "exclusive." The 
> exclusive lasted only as long as HBO needed to find other partners. These are 
> two of many articles that say the exclusive never was exclusive:

It never was an exclusive per se Bert, because MVPDs already offer HBO and HBO 
Go. 

HBO Now is exclusive to Apple as a nationwide OTT service - anyone will be able 
to access it, including Cablevision broadband subscribers. 

Cablevision will offer HBO Now to ITS broadband subscribers - you and I will 
NOT be able to buy HBO Now from Cablevision because we do not get broadband 
from Cablevision. 

Perhaps you overlooked this rather important point. 

All of this is about business relationships. No different than buying a product 
in a grocery store. HBO is creating a new channel of distribution in addition 
to its traditional MVPD partners.

> HBO never intended to only offer this service to Apple devices.

Correct. They just gave Apple a 90 day exclusive for nationwide Internet 
access. The other devices will follow.


Regards
Craig 
 
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