Interesting. It's easy to pattern match this against the old "media company wants control and doesn't get the modern world" chestnut.
On the other hand, try pattern matching this against the "band decides to put work directly on internet rather than going through a label" or "writer decides to self-publish rather than go through a publisher" story. Why wouldn't a direct-sales model work for them?
Admittedly, they aren't quite doing the direct-sales model, since they only grant access to HBO GO through some sort of premium TV subscription. But if they offered direct subscriptions to HBO GO...
But if they offered direct subscriptions to HBO GO...
Unfortunately, that's exactly what they won't do- they've stated as much themselves. The cable companies essentially promote HBO for free right now, so HBO is unwilling to rock the boat with them. Selling subscriptions online would most definitely rock the boat.
I don't know if I blame them or not. I don't think there is any doubt that this kind of online subscription is the future, but I'm not sure it would reach as many people as a premium cable subscription would right now, so they'd stand to lose a lot of money and subscribers. Of course, setting up HBO GO means that they have the system set up and ready to go whenever the market changes.
I think they can afford to be slightly ballsier than they're being. But not by much. And that matter of degrees is what makes the situation with "rocking the cable providers' boats" so fraught. Fact is, HBO is not in a power position against its cable providers. HBO doesn't drive cable subscriptions en masse the way sports packages do. HBO still -- for the time being, at least -- needs Comcast, Time Warner, et al., a lot more than they need HBO.
That said, I don't think there is a major cable provider out there right now who'd dare drop HBO from all of its offerings if push came to shove. And I think HBO is, in many ways, the perfect content brand for on-demand subscriptions or a la carte episode sales on digital ecosystems. Its content is top-notch, and the potential audience for that content is theoretically a large multiple of the current HBO subscriber base. The quality of a typical HBO scripted series is lightyears beyond that of almost any other network show, and consumers would eat it up.
I agree with you that HBO seems well-positioned for either world right now: the world in which it currently lives, or the world in which it could find itself a few years from now. HBO GO is a great app with what I imagine is a large install base. It seems relatively future-ready, if not wholly future-proof.
On the other hand, try pattern matching this against the "band decides to put work directly on internet rather than going through a label" or "writer decides to self-publish rather than go through a publisher" story. Why wouldn't a direct-sales model work for them?
Admittedly, they aren't quite doing the direct-sales model, since they only grant access to HBO GO through some sort of premium TV subscription. But if they offered direct subscriptions to HBO GO...