14 DAY TRIAL // Online video is a mainstream phenomenon and a central part of the web, so it's understandable that everyone wants in, preferably on their own terms. Few video sites are actually making any money but it doesn't stop TV executives from staying up at night fearing all their subscribers will start getting their content online, which is why they're launching their own, limited, online ventures. The latest to join the club is HBO that is very close to launching its own dedicated video site HBO GO, which is in private beta for now.
HBO GO will only be available in "Continental United States," and, if Hulu's path is any indication, that's how it's going to stay for quite a while, also limited to the subscribers the cable network already has. The idea is to offer it as an extension of the main service and not as a competitor. Just like TV Everywhere, it's not meant to take over the online video market, just to stop people from dropping their cable subscriptions and getting everything they need online, every cable operator's greatest nightmare.
The site has been in testing with Comcast and Verizon FiOS subscribers but Time Warner, which owns HBO, is set to make an announcement later today, according to NYT's Media Decoder blog, with the site going live for everyone after that, everyone that's an HBO subscriber, that is. The cable network has about 35 million subscribers in the US, so HBO GO should be able to gain a decent audience. It's not going to challenge Hulu but, then again, it's not intended to anyway.
The site is actually part of the wider move by cable operators, labeled as TV Everywhere, to offer subscribers access to content online, which HBO is already a part of. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to stem the tide of users watching their favorite shows online or even replacing traditional TV content with what's available online. OK, it's not exactly a tide yet, it's not even a stream but there's a definite trend and the TV industry knows it.