HBO GO released for Roku, limited to specific providers

November 5, 2011 By Mike Flacy

With Roku owners clamoring for access to HBO programming like True Blood and Boardwalk Empire, the company rolled out support for the streaming application limited to certain cable and satellite providers.

Earlier this week, Roku rolled out an update that offered access to the HBO GO application. Assuming that a Roku owner is currently subscribed to an approved provider, users can download the application and watch the latest in HBO original programming. However, HBO doesn’t provide any method to subscribe directly to the service due to existing relationships with cable and satellite companies. A Roku owner must be subscribed to HBO through Verizon FiOS, Cox, Charter, ATT U-verse, Dish Network, Massillon Cable/Clear Picture, WOW!, Suddenlink or RCN to gain access to the programming. This method of access goes against how some of the public views the streaming device as a way to ditch expensive cable or satellite service.

While Cablevision and Time Warner Cable customers are still waiting for those cable providers to strike an initial deal with HBO for streaming access on internal platforms, Comcast and DirecTV consumers are being denied access to the HBO GO application on Roku systems. Both companies offer access to HBO programming with first-party, set-top boxes, but view competing hardware as a threat since they can’t control the presentation and branding. However, Comcast has released the Xfinity iPad app that provides access to HBO programming and the company also offers support on the XBox 360. DirecTV is also hoping that customers will stream video content to mobile devices and computers with the new Nomad set-top DVR.

It’s very possible that both Comcast and DirecTV don’t view the Roku box as a significant force in the market yet. The company has targeted three million Roku boxes sold by the end of the year, but that number pales in comparison to approximately 57 million Xbox 360 consoles sold. However, only twelve percent of Roku owners actually discontinue cable or satellite service according to an interview with CEO Anthony Wood last year. That leaves about 2.6 million Roku owners that still subscribe to those services each month.

Showing 2 comments

Gman at 7:07am 16th November 2011 Speaking of the Nomad I have been reading up on that now that it has released and I am really surprised they made it at all since it is just a glorified hard drive backup. I could do that with my iPod touch frankly. I haven’t seen anything as useful as the Sling adapter because I have internet anywhere I go. I’ve had my Sling adapter with my DISH Network employee service for over a year now and although I don’t watch live TV all the time I really like the fact that if my DVR is full and I want to watch TV I don’t have to delete anything (unlike the Nomad). In fact, since my wife doesn’t watch her shows fast enough that is likely to happen more often than not. I watch on my phone which doesn’t have enough memory to hold that many shows anyway and I don’t have time to download everything after waiting for it to convert like the Nomad requires.
Kyle Hunter at 5:42am 6th November 2011 HBO GO needs to come to PS3.