I think HBO just released a subscription service called HBO Now at $15/month. That should clarify things. I doubt Comcast interferes with HBO Now. HBO Go is part of the cable TV subscription, not an OTT service.
This is so annoying. On the one hand, people want you to believe the FCC Order is just 3 simple net neutrality rules, ignoring 300 pages of unrelated stuff inside the Trojan Horse. On the other hand, people are going to call everything they don’t like a Net Neutrality violation now. Ooooh, I don’t like the way Left Shark dances, that’s a Net Neutrality violation. From: Mike Hammett Sent: Friday, March 06, 2015 8:45 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Comcast vs. HBO Go on PS4? It's an authentication server issue (on the TV service side of the house), not an Internet blockage. ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Darren Shea" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 6, 2015 8:44:05 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Comcast vs. HBO Go on PS4? The only thing in the article which undermines that reading of the facts is this line: “Roku eventually got approval last December, but Sony devices are still locked out.” That implies that Comcast customers are allowed to use the HBOGo service, but only with certain, pre-approved by Comcast, clients. That might run afoul of the new Net Neutrality rules, especially if the protocols, ports and bitrates are identical, regardless of of the client used. It’s one thing for a cable provider (like Time Warner) to refuse to participate in an unrelated network’s non-broadcast offerings (like the Disney Channel app), it may be another for the provider to say people running the app on an iPhone can use it, but people using the Windows Phone version cannot. We’re in uncharted territory here! n Darren From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 7:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Comcast vs. HBO Go on PS4? Based just on a quick Google search (so I could be mistaken), this appears to be total bullshit. This is how HBO Go describes itself on their website: “Get unlimited access to all your favorite HBO® shows, hit movies, sports, comedy and more, plus bonus features and behind-the-scenes extras. It’s all free with your HBO subscription through participating television providers and available on your favorite devices.” In other words, it’s exactly the same as complaining that a WISP doesn’t “give” its customers ESPN3. HBO Go appears not to be an OTT service with individual subscriptions. It appears to be an extra, Internet based service that comes only with HBO from a cable provider. So the complaint appears to be that Comcast has not offered HBO Go to its cable customers who have HBO. It seems to me that is different from “blocking” HBO Go to your Internet customers, as the article claims. From: Mike Hammett Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 7:08 PM To: Animal Farm Subject: [AFMUG] Comcast vs. HBO Go on PS4? http://www.extremetech.com/computing/200479-this-is-why-we-need-internet-regulation-comcast-blocks-hbo-go-app-from-working-on-ps4 Do we know anything about this? The article above runs over Comcast with a bus, but does little to technically explain why\how Comcast is blocking them.
