HBO to push paid online video: Shake US cable TV industry

HBO will push Pay-per-view Video: The news that rocked the US cable industry's Beijing time of October 16, and that HBO will provide independent streaming video services to US users next year will shake the fundamentals of cable television. "It's time to remove all the hurdles for viewers who want to get HBO," said Richard Plepleux Richard Plepler, an HBO CEO, at Time Warner's 72.21,1.57,2.22% investor conference in Wednesday. It is unclear exactly what the HBO initiative is all about. Plepleux did not disclose the price of the HBO streaming video service, whether it would contain all content. And how users will purchase these content. A spokesman for HBO declined to give more details. However, Plepleux's story will be enough to shock Comcast (50.86,-0.61,-1.19%) and Cablevision cable television companies. The business model of these companies is based on the provision of programme content in a closed manner. The big question is how HBO will seek a more direct relationship with viewers. HBO hinted that it would work with broadband service providers to allow users to pay extra for their streaming services, while users would not have to pay for cable TV. The model will still include Internet service providers, so maintaining relationships with these companies is still important for HBO. Providing streaming video services will attract Internet service providers, and HBO will not have to build its own billing infrastructure or maintain its own user relationships. HBO also has direct access to the audience, and the most straightforward way will be to open the HBO Go site to all credit card users. It's also good for HBO. HBO currently has access to information about what the user is viewing, but cannot get data about the user community like Netflix (448.59,-0.53,-0.12%). While the HBO initiative will help users who want to get out of cable, the future of users who share accounts may be limited. So far, HBO is tolerant of multiple users sharing the same account on their streaming web site, because only HBO's cable users can get such accounts. And when HBO starts offering paid streaming media services, the company may prohibit users from sharing accounts. HBO may take steps to make sharing accounts more difficult, such as preventing multiple users from using the same account to log in at the same time, or tracking the location of the login to confirm suspicious behavior. Last year, the first drop in cable television users in the United States, and HBO's launch of the new service will accelerate the trend. (D-Gold)