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Comment by meritt | Hacker News Reader

And until HBO offers even a semi-convenient way for me to pay, I'll just pirate their content like I always have.

I know the head of the HBO team here, and I asked him about that topic.

HBO has no incentive to offer streaming only subscriptions. Cable companies pay top dollar to offer HBO content, because putting HBO on a TV package increases the subscription to that package. Like For ever $1 cable companies pay for HBO, those cable companies make $3 from TV packages.

He said that HBO basically prints money, and does not give a damn.

That's fine, we'll just wait. Currently I just use a relative's account. But the day will come when cable companies are not able to afford these premiums, it is only a matter of time.

> But the day will come when cable companies are not able to afford these premiums, it is only a matter of time.

I think this is the most likely outcome. Though with the big failure of municipal internet access, I think cable companies will still be relevant, perhaps just as dumb-pipes, and not content providers.

What evidence can you present that cable companies are becoming less powerful or relevant? All I see is cable companies consistently increasing their power vs. content providers. The latest example being the Netflix/Comcast deal with Netflix paying Comcast. But there are others: Comcast bidding for Time Warner Cable, Verizon FIOS household numbers stalling (they're still a player but not taking much share). They're also becoming more vertically integrated - so buying more content companies themselves.

My take is that until there is another viable internet pipe to the home - wireless or fiber optic - the cable companies will continue to be relevant and powerful. Controlling the last mile to the consumer is just too powerful, especially when you look at how difficult and costly it is to do a new network at scale.

I think you just argued my point:

> I think cable companies will still be relevant, perhaps just as dumb-pipes, and not content providers.

That's fine, I just get the free service for 3 months then drop it, then do it again. For some reason At&t keeps letting me do this for over a year.

By "semi-convenient" you actually mean cheap. If you're a cord cutter all you have to do is sign up for an ~$80/month cable package that includes HBO and HBO Go. You wouldn't even need to install a shitty cable box. You could just use the HBO Go login to watch from your computer, laptop, table, apple tv, xbox, playstation, or whatever.

That's extremely convenient. It is not cheap, but it is convenient. :)

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