Already a bit on the frosty side, relations between Netflix and HBO seem to have taken a decidedly chilly turn. Beginning the first of this year, it appears that HBO stopped providing Netflix with discounted DVD and Blu-ray discs.
The two companies have been slowly drifting apart for some time now. Just last month, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings came straight out and called HBO’s Go streaming service a competitor to Netflix:
“The competitor we fear the most is HBO Go . . . They are becoming more Netflix-like and we are becoming more HBO-like.”
The two companies have not been able to see eye-to-eye on a streaming deal for a long time, and Netflix’s foray into orignal content can’t have been pleasing to HBO either.
Under the First Sale Doctrine, Netflix is still entitled to obtain HBO content through other channels. Such a move is time-consuming and costly, however—Netflix can hear all about that from Redbox.
Are HBO titles like True Blood, The Sopranos, Deadwood and more about to become scarce on Netflix? Or will the company be able to create a workaround that will keep the HBO titles flowing?
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
Just another step towards HBO opening up HBO Go to non HBO subscribers at some point imo
Agree but it’s funny the way you stated it. HBO will only ever be available to subscribers. Whether that’s through cable or directly via web is the question.
It’s all about MONEY and Empire building/defending …
Curb your enthusiasm man, it’s about a lot more than that. HBO wants to put netflix Six feet under. The whole Entourage at HBO wants to be ready to bypass the Deadwood of cable distribution at the drop of a hat. This is Real Sports to them and they will take this netflix conflict down to The wire. Oz (as) heated as this conflict is I think some Big Love will eventually prevail between the Angry Boys. I’m done here because I’m Bored to death writing this post.
@firstlawofnature
Nice Post. Better than Real Sex.
I hope you are correct but i’m not seeing it. HBO has ways of getting content to the end user but they are so far in bed with cable that they are literally telling potential customers to keep their money. I don’t see real innovation there. It’s so simple that anyone with a brain would have opened HBO Go up to non-cable subscribers by now. They instead want to bolster up the old system of paying layers of different middlemen to get content.
I imagine HBO’s negotiations w/ cable could be impacted if HBO go was opened up to the non-cable customers. They’ll do it someday I’m sure but they mint money now so why rock the boat?
A lot of this goes back to when HBO was owned by the same Time Warner that ran the cable system. Showtime was a top runner but TW put HBO and Cinemax on such sweet pedestals that Showtime nearly died off. Since TW has been split so I think the entertainment division is separate from the cable division. Old habits die hard however.
I think HBO is big enough to live on, but I think hard times will hit first. I hope I’m wrong however.
Someone on another forum brought up an interesting point. HBO made it’s living off other people’s content. Right now they have rights to some new programing but fill it out with other content. If the creative minds are called away or migrate then HBO loses it’s ace. At that point their bad decisions (closing HBO go, fighting Netflix, etc) will bite them hard.