Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
So HBO is losing out on potentially millions of 'customers.'
http://ca.gizmodo.com/5916885/more-p...thrones-on-hbo
How many of those people would actually pay HBO to access their content without a cable subscription?
According to this site...
http://takemymoneyhbo.com/
163,000 people tweeted within the first 48 hours of the site being open that they would pay an average price of $12/month to watch HBO.
I'm not sure how many people have tweeted since then, but there are obviously hundreds of thousands of people that would pay to watch HBO online. |
If HBO is getting around $8/subscriber and people are willing to pay $12/subscriber (I won't dispute the figure, though people do often exaggerate when they want something and do not have to back up their claim), there are two other factors to consider:
1) cost of infrastructure for distribution. The cable companies shoulder that burden right now.
2) cost of marketing/sales. Again, the cable companies shoulder that. Even more, they may bundle HBO with other channels, or they may give HBO free for 6 months, hoping that the subscriber keeps paying when the free period ends (a likely scenario) - all at no risk to HBO.
I'm not saying it can't be done, but there is a lot of risk there. I think HBO is looking hard at the numbers - it just isn't in their best interest now to jump to that model.