HBO GO Brings Cable Network's Programming to Subscribers' Computers

It offers more than 600 hours worth of HBO-specific programming. In HD. Streamed right to your computer. On demand. And it’s free! But there’s one very crucial catch: you have to be an HBO or Cinemax subscriber to be eligible for HBO GO, the cable network’s new Internet-streaming venture.

Launched as an obvious competitor to other similar options, namely Netflix and Hulu, HBO GO has a few advantages over the other fish in the streaming sea. For one thing, because HBO pays big for access to early releases, their database will differ from Netflix’s. Still, the fact that Netflix plans including unlimited streaming start at just $10 per month and HBO GO users will have to be HBO (or sister company Cinemax) TV watchers as well, some critics remain skeptical of its ability to really compete. (To subscribe to HBO costs roughly $16 per month, but you have to be a cable subscriber as well, which is an additional monthly cost.)

But that’s okay, says one of HBO’s presidents, Eric Kessler. “We’re a subscription service, and our ongoing overarching objective is to enhance the service to make it better,” Kessler told the New York Times. “It’s about enhancing the satisfaction and continuing the life cycle of the subscriber.”

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