HBO starts online delivery - Now what for Public TV?
by Rob Paterson
HBO will launch a new feature on Tuesday this week - Subscribers will be able to download its shows.
Targeted at younger subscribers and travelers who watch TV shows and movies on laptops, HBO on Broadband will offer 600 titles each month, with 400 of those available at any time, as well as a live stream of the main HBO channel.
HBO on Broadband will also suggest titles based on viewing habits. Programming will be available for at least a month, but will be erased from users’ libraries at its expiration date.
The application can be programmed for up to five users and downloaded to five devices that use Microsoft XP or newer operating systems. An Apple version is in the works.
Each month, an HBO original series such as “Entourage”, “The Sopranos” or “Sex In the City” will be available in its entirety.
Apple now rents and allows downloads. Netflix delivers online as does Amazon.
TV is moving decisively in 2008 to an online delivery.
If I want to see a show again on PBS, I have to order it on DVD by mail and it costs $19.95.
I imagine that a block for public television delivering online is the Station Issue.
I would love to have a PBS/Producer subscription that allowed me access online to content. I would have no problem in indicating in my subscription my “home” local station. So the revenue could flow both to the producer and my home station.
Time for an experiment folks - 2009 may be too late to learn.
There is more to profits than simply offering content online - I will talk more on how making the show a social object can add even more soon.
Update - please see comments below where Jen kindly brought it to my attention that PBS announced a few days ago that it will launch a new arrangement with YouTube
