What will Dish do about HBO?

While this may have been true based on extrapolating statements from last year, Roku has been on a tear since then -- so much so that Apple has dropped their price by 30% (which likely caused Roku to offer a $20 off the Roku 3 promotion). Chromecast was a force to be reckoned with last year but it has been kind of a yawn more recently.

Another statistic from the Variety article that speaks loudly is the comparison of viewing hours on each platform. Roku devices showed 150% more programming hours than did Apple TV boxes. This suggests to me that the Roku plays a bigger part in active TV viewing than does the Apple TV and is probably the overwhelming preference of cord cutters.
Well if that's the case "the overwhelming preference of cord cutters" won't have access to HBO
 
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Having money to throw away and actually getting someone to throw it on a particular product/service are two different things. I don't think your average Apple snob/hipster/kid is going to be the one to cut the cord and go OTT. They are already throwing away $200/month on their cable or satellite package and aren't likely to change that.

I can tell you from personal and business experience that cord cutters are not Apple people. True FTA really is the original OTT/cord cutter service, way before those terms even existed. Just about everyone I know that is involved in FTA (and has another device) has a Roku or Android or Fire or Chromecast. Sure there are a couple with Apple products as an exception to the rule.

Since there is the illusion in the market that Apple is an exclusive or special item just the launch on Apple for marketing/social might be the goal here. It may not get one person to buy an Apple TV or Iphone but it will make all us poor folk with Rokus and Androids and Fire TV's think the HBO thing is cool and get us to sign up when the 3 month Apple exclusive is over. Thinking about it, this really could be a great marketing move.

Back to the original topic with DISH (or another provider) and HBO pricing. You have to remember that DISH just launched the $20 Sling TV service. They are not trying to get their own customers to cut the cord. They are targeting people that already have done it. The vast majority of people overall these days are going to stick with their traditional pay providers and pay them whatever they want a month. Not many will cancel DISH for Sling TV and not many that already have HBO are going to drop it from their easy pay provider to get it a few bucks cheaper.
 
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Boy, talk about 'everything not Apple' snobbery!!

You paint with a very broad brush, almost all of which is your personal opinion. And of course, you are welcome to have whatever opinion you want to have.

That said, I doubt that HBO is looking for the bargain basement cord cutter at all, they are the least likely to be willing to pony up the money. And remember ALL of this is about the Benjamins!! :)
 
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I love my Apple products. I keep trying new Android products but find myself going back to Apple as it just works.

I use a Macbook Pro for my computer and LOVE it, it goes everywhere with me and runs better than ANY laptop I have ever owned. And can use OSx and Windows at the same time, plus have unix available to me as well so its like 3 computers in one.

I have two Apple TV's one at work and one at Home. They work great but not as good or as much choice at a the Roku 3 which is my prefered streaming box.

I don't see myself getting an Apple watch, I can't see paying that much money that you will probably want to upgrade to the latest version in a year. If I want to check weather or use Apple Pay I can take the phone out of my pocket and have a better experience.
 
The target audience is cord cutters with money that are willing to spend it. Why would HBO care about those that are mostly or only interested in 'free', HBO has never been about 'free'.
And the AppleTV numbers represent a very significant percentage of whichever market you'd like to mention that would have access to the new HBO service. Apple will do the billing from what I've read and you can bet like everything else offered on the AppleTV access to it will be dead simple.
But don't worry, it will be on other devices in a few months assuming it is successful.
While I've been in the middle of shifting things around for my TV needs, I got to thinking that if Apple would add Amazon Prime/Instant video to the AppleTV, they could take much more of the market. I know that if it was there now, I would be on the AppleTV much more than I am now.
well, they were the first to ever offer a free preview to the providers to encourage folks to subscribe. I guess they weren't doing it because they support free, but inadvertently takes that point away. Reading thru some of Dishs lawsuits, I was reminded of Starz suing Dish because dish offer their channels free for 12 months to all their customers. The movie channels have specific contracts that state they have to remain a premium. If everyone has the channel, they are devalued and considered not a premium. So, you pay extra for the rights to view movies other distributors do not have the rights for, and will not unless they reach the premium status.
 
All ramblings aside... :)

Free preview in this case doesn't make HBO all about 'free'! They are offering a free preview of an extended length of time to the market that has shown that it is willing and ready to pay for the service IF the service is worth the money. We call that 'effective marketing' in business!!

I probably won't get it because from what I'm reading it doesn't appear that the boxing matches will be on the service. And since I only subscribe to HBO for Boxing and some of their original series, this has little value to me. Of course I realize that what is going to be there is all as much rumor as anything else, I could be wrong.

It will be interesting going forward to see what happens when it opens up to other devices. I'll bet there will be all sorts of hacking going on to try to get it free on those more 'open' devices.
 
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Oh I agree about the effective marketing. HBO was one of the first to realize that if you make the consumer feel like they are getting a value, you can profit greatly. I have subbed to stuff after freebies even after knowing the psychology behind it. It is a wonderful tool that many companies either do not know how to implement correctly, or do not implement at all.
Side note/ramble... When I worked at Dish, HBO gave my call center a challenge. The team that sold the most HBO in a period of time, they would take to a big nice fancy dinner. Well, my team won, and they honored their word. Quite a few thousands of dollars later, and we all loved HBO. Plus all the prizes and swag they gave us... Holy crap. And it wasn't even a drop in HBOs bucket. No flinching at a dinner bill for 20 people that cost more than an average car. I think this service will be a success for their target, but also think they are trying to not undervalue their TV rights with the distributors.
 
Having money to throw away and actually getting someone to throw it on a particular product/service are two different things. I don't think your average Apple snob/hipster/kid is going to be the one to cut the cord and go OTT. They are already throwing away $200/month on their cable or satellite package and aren't likely to change that.

I can tell you from personal and business experience that cord cutters are not Apple people. True FTA really is the original OTT/cord cutter service, way before those terms even existed. Just about everyone I know that is involved in FTA (and has another device) has a Roku or Android or Fire or Chromecast. Sure there are a couple with Apple products as an exception to the rule.

Since there is the illusion in the market that Apple is an exclusive or special item just the launch on Apple for marketing/social might be the goal here. It may not get one person to buy an Apple TV or Iphone but it will make all us poor folk with Rokus and Androids and Fire TV's think the HBO thing is cool and get us to sign up when the 3 month Apple exclusive is over. Thinking about it, this really could be a great marketing move.

Back to the original topic with DISH (or another provider) and HBO pricing. You have to remember that DISH just launched the $20 Sling TV service. They are not trying to get their own customers to cut the cord. They are targeting people that already have done it. The vast majority of people overall these days are going to stick with their traditional pay providers and pay them whatever they want a month. Not many will cancel DISH for Sling TV and not many that already have HBO are going to drop it from their easy pay provider to get it a few bucks cheaper.

I went almost a year and a half as a cord cutter after canceling Dish. My Apple TV is the main device I used to accomplish that. I don't know why you are saying they aren't for cord cutters. It seems like that's exactly who they are designed for. Many cord cutters like myself rely on the Apple TV to buy Season Passes for the cable shows we still want access to. That's how I'm watching Better Call Saul and The Walking Dead right now and I have used it for several other shows earlier in the year as well.

On top of iTunes season passes I use it for MLB.tv, Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, WatchESPN, and FX Now. There are dozens of services on it that I don't use too. I don't know what you're talking about. The Apple TV is a cord cutter's dream.
 
Let there be no doubt that HBO isn't prepared to deal with consumers. My beef is that while you effectively must have an Apple TV to do iTunes, there are other content services that don't discriminate and are well established on multiple platforms.

Apple zealots tend to be a rather unforgiving crowd and that's why I would rather roll out something like this just about anywhere else.
 
I think MLB is doing the legwork for HBO, which is also who does the WWE Network among others. Its not like HBO is running call centers and doing the streaming itself.
 
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Let there be no doubt that HBO isn't prepared to deal with consumers. My beef is that while you effectively must have an Apple TV to do iTunes, there are other content services that don't discriminate and are well established on multiple platforms.

Apple zealots tend to be a rather unforgiving crowd and that's why I would rather roll out something like this just about anywhere else.

There is no denying.....You pay more and get less......But it fills the Ego....
 
I went almost a year and a half as a cord cutter after canceling Dish. My Apple TV is the main device I used to accomplish that. I don't know why you are saying they aren't for cord cutters. It seems like that's exactly who they are designed for. Many cord cutters like myself rely on the Apple TV to buy Season Passes for the cable shows we still want access to. That's how I'm watching Better Call Saul and The Walking Dead right now and I have used it for several other shows earlier in the year as well.

On top of iTunes season passes I use it for MLB.tv, Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, WatchESPN, and FX Now. There are dozens of services on it that I don't use too. I don't know what you're talking about. The Apple TV is a cord cutter's dream.

As I stated there are exceptions. Majority of cord cutters are doing Roku and Android devices. Nothing wrong with doing it on an Apple TV. I'm sure they are easy to use and don't require much setup unlike Android and to a lesser extent Roku.
 
There is no denying.....You pay more and get less......But it fills the Ego....

Until recently an Apple TV, Roku 3, and Fire TV were all $99. Discounts could be had on all of them if you waited for deals. Please tell me how I paid more and got less by purchasing an Apple TV.

I also have a Roku 2XD in my bedroom that gets quite a bit of use. I don't feel that 1 is significantly better than the other. I prefer the Apple TV UI and it has most of the major streaming video services. Roku has a ton of services that Apple TV doesn't but most of them are so niche that they don't make much difference to me.

The only thing I miss on my Apple TV that I have on my Roku is Amazon Prime. I have a Tivo Roamio hooked to the same TV as my Apple TV so that covers my Amazon needs.

Edit: With Apple's price drop to $69 it's actually cheaper than a Roku 3 ($79)or Fire TV ($99) from Amazon right now.
 
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Until recently an Apple TV, Roku 3, and Fire TV were all $99. Discounts could be had on all of them if you waited for deals. Please tell me how I paid more and got less by purchasing an Apple TV.

I also have a Roku 2XD in my bedroom that gets quite a bit of use. I don't feel that 1 is significantly better than the other. I prefer the Apple TV UI and it has most of the major streaming video services. Roku has a ton of services that Apple TV doesn't but most of them are so niche that they don't make much difference to me.

The only thing I miss on my Apple TV that I have on my Roku is Amazon Prime. I have a Tivo Roamio hooked to the same TV as my Apple TV so that covers my Amazon needs.

Edit: With Apple's price drop to $69 it's actually cheaper than a Roku 3 ($79)or Fire TV ($99) from Amazon right now.

Now your talking out your behind!....IDK....Got a fire stick for $39 dollars....want to compare phones, tablets ,or computers???? I would bet not....Apple takes advantage of developers and keep everything closed source, and takes a cut out of my great idea.....How about that new watch?

APPLE, PAY MORE GET LESS...........................!
 
Now your talking out your behind!....IDK....Got a fire stick for $39 dollars....want to compare phones, tablets ,or computers???? I would bet not....Apple takes advantage of developers and keep everything closed source, and takes a cut out of my great idea.....How about that new watch?

APPLE, PAY MORE GET LESS...........................!

A Fire Stick and Fire TV are not the same thing.
 
Roku has a ton of services that Apple TV doesn't but most of them are so niche that they don't make much difference to me.
...
The only thing I miss on my Apple TV that I have on my Roku is Amazon Prime.
You seem to have answered your own question.

That you happened to have other devices that fill the gaps is lucky for you.

The Apple TV is not decidedly inferior, it is just isn't the premium tool that its former price point would suggest you would be getting.
 

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