HBO bows broadband in 2 markets
Green Bay, Milwaukee can access service
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HBO On Broadband will immediately be available to Time Warner Cable customers in Green Bay and Milwaukee. Service is free, but users must subscribe to both HBO and the cable company's high-speed online service (in this case, 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.
Service will operate in a manner similar to HBO's popular On Demand service for TV, but with more than 375 titles available at any given time (compared with some 150 on HBO On Demand).
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 of "Flight of the Conchords" and "Real Time With Bill Maher," among others. (In the case of upcoming half-hour strip "In Treatment," all five of the week's episodes will be loaded onto the service on Mondays.)
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.
HBO's East Coast feed will also be streamed live on the service.
Kessler said the pay cabler has "no set plan" in rolling out HBO On Broadband. Instead, he said HBO will methodically add distribution much as it did with HBO On Demand. That means picking a handful of markets at first and then working with MSOs around the country to set up the necessary technology (and marketing). Beyond sibling Time Warner Cable, conversations with Comcast and others are ongoing.
"We are having conversations with our distribution partners about launch plans for HBO On Broadband," Kessler said. "We hope to follow a deployment schedule similar to the one executed on the successful introduction of HBO On Demand."
In order to access HBO On Broadband, users will download an application to their computer; they will then have the opportunity to download series, movies and specials to their hard drives. Viewers will be able to start watching almost immediately or set a season pass for programs as they're added.
Programming will hit the broadband service at the same time that it bows on the linear HBO channel and will expire (and be removed from the user's hard drive) after a few weeks.
The application is set up for up to five user accounts and can be installed on several household computers. Parental controls also are available (filtering out inappropriate content, such as "Real Sex"), and the player also offers several different viewing options.
"This will create value for our distribution partners, our subscribers and the HBO brand," Kessler said.
