Maybe you’ve had that moment, the one where you’re 47 minutes deep in a Star Trek: The Next Generation binge session on your phone (because you can’t be bothered to find a larger screen) and you suddenly realize you haven’t switched over to WiFi. Visions of your swiftly dwindling data plan may no longer dance in front of your eyes at such times if you’re a T-Mobile customer, if a new rumor proves to be true. [More]
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Time Warner CEO Isn’t Worried About Cable TV’s Fate: “Netflix Is Good, But Not That Good”
By 8.28.15
While cable companies’ investors might be shaking in their boots whenever the word “Netflix” pops up, the streaming video service isn’t the giant slayer it’s been made out to be — at least according to Time Warner Inc. Jeff Bewkes, who says his HBO is better than Netflix. [More]
HBO Will Get 9-Month Exclusive Window On New Sesame Street Episodes
By 8.13.15
In an attempt to make its cable and streaming services more appealing to families, HBO has struck a five-year deal with the folks at Sesame Workshop that will give the premium cable channel a 9-month exclusive window on new Sesame Street episodes. [More]
HBO Now Finally Launching On Android
By 7.16.15
Now that Apple’s exclusivity period has come and gone, users of Android devices will finally be able to access HBO Now, the standalone streaming service that lets users access HBO content online without having to pay for a basic cable package (or borrow a friend’s HBO Go password). [More]
Comcast’s “Stream” Online TV Service Is Basically Aereo With HBO
By 7.13.15
Comcast is, by far, the biggest cable TV provider in the country, but its pay-TV numbers is sinking while its Internet user base grows. In an effort to sell some sort of TV service to this increasingly large segment of the market, the folks at Kabletown are testing an online-only live-TV service dubbed Stream. [More]
Hulu Will Sell Showtime’s Standalone Streaming Service For $9
By 6.23.15
The folks at CBS have already shown they are willing to try something new with the upcoming launch of the standalone Showtime streaming service, making it available through Sony’s PlayStation Vue live-TV platform in addition to being sold through iTunes and Roku. Today, the company announced another partnership that will sell Showtime through Hulu at a discounted rate. [More]
Standalone Showtime Service Confirmed To Launch In Coming Months
By 5.7.15
While CBS Corp. didn’t provide any pricing details today on the long-hinted-at standalone Showtime streaming service (a la HBO Now), the company did confirm that it will indeed be giving consumers this new cable-free option at some point in the coming months. [More]
HBO & Showtime File Lawsuit To Block Live Streams Of Pacquiao Vs. Mayweather Fight
By 4.29.15
In case you hadn’t fallen victim to the pummeling from ads, news stories, and seemingly countless documentaries that have aired in recent weeks, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are set to square off in a Las Vegas boxing ring this weekend in a bout co-produced by Showtime and HBO. The fight won’t actually be airing live on either network; you’ll have to pony up $100 to watch it on pay-per-view. That’s why the two premium networks, along with the fight’s promoters, have filed suit to preemptively block websites from live-streaming the event. [More]
HBO CEO Brushes Off Idea Of Simultaneously Releasing All Episodes Of A Show
By 4.27.15
While Netflix and Amazon may be catering to binge-watchers by releasing all episodes of their original shows online at once — and even though HBO’s online library allows users to plow through entire series of older shows — don’t expect the network to dump an entire new season of Game of Thrones or True Detective onto HBO Go or HBO Now. [More]
Showtime May Soon Announce Standalone Streaming Service
By 4.24.15
Back in Nov. 2014, CBS CEO Les Moonves said that his company’s Showtime network would “fairly definitively” launch some sort of standalone streaming service in 2015. Since then, there hasn’t really been much news about it. But since HBO has launched HBO Now without the world coming to an end, it looks like it might be time for CBS to unveil that service. [More]
HBO Now International Users Subscribing With IP Runarounds Getting The Boot
By 4.20.15
While fans of HBO who didn’t want to sign up for a cable package to get every titillating, skin-baring moment on Game of Thrones (so basically, any given moment in the show) have been rejoicing over HBO Now, anyone outside the United States was left outside in the rain… that is, unless, they got around that inconvenience using VPNs or other ways to mask their IP addresses. Those international users are now getting the heave-ho from HBO. [More]
HBO Now Accounted For Almost 1% Of Internet Video Traffic On Sunday Night
By 4.15.15
HBO’s standalone streaming service HBO Now is only a week old but a look at traffic numbers for its first big-event night give hope that it might be finding traction with consumers. [More]
HBO Complains To Twitter About Periscope Users Who Streamed Game Of Thrones
By 4.15.15
While plenty of people were legally watching the Game of Thrones season premiere on Sunday, some of those viewers were also using their accounts on Periscope, the Twitter-owned live-streaming service, to illegally re-broadcast the show to their online pals. In response, HBO has sent takedown notices and these Periscope users may have their accounts suspended. [More]
HBO Now, Sling Endure Game Of Thrones Premiere; HBO Go Has Problems
By 4.13.15
Only days after HBO launched its standalone HBO Now streaming service — and Sling TV began making HBO available as a live stream for its users — both new offerings were put to the test with Sunday night season premiere of Silicon Valley (and a few people who watched Game of Thrones). In the end, HBO Now came through without a crash, while Sling’s live stream showed improvement. But HBO Go, the streaming service that’s been around for five years, seemed to have the most problems. [More]
HBO Now: Our Initial Hands-On Thoughts
By 4.7.15
Earlier today, HBO finally released its HBO Now standalone streaming service, and because we’d be remiss in not trying the service out for you, we gave it a shot. [More]
At Long Last, ‘HBO Now’ Launches On iTunes, Cablevision
By 4.7.15
After what seems like an eternity, and with only five days to go before the season premiere of Game of Thrones, HBO’s standalone streaming service HBO Now is finally available. [More]
Sling TV’s Final Four Faltering Raises Concerns About Launch Of HBO Now
By 4.6.15
Even though Dish’s Sling TV streaming service had two full months of active, national usage under its belt — and even though the company says it expected high demand during the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament — some Sling users were left staring at error messages instead of watching the end of Kentucky’s almost-perfect season. And with HBO expected to launch both its standalone streaming HBO Now service and live access via Sling this week, there’s cause for concern. [More]
HBO Finally Gets Around To Replying To Consumers Who Said They’d Pay For HBO Go…. Three Years Ago
By 4.3.15
With the launch of standalone streaming service HBO Now just around the corner, it appears the premium cable channel is attempting to drum up sales by going back in time and replying to Tweets from three years ago. [More]
