“Time Warner Inc’s HBO will compete head-on with Netflix, Inc. when it launches a standalone service that doesn’t require cable. Is this the result of Netflix’s growth or due to a lack of support from the cable industry?” Louis Bedigian reports for Benzinga. “For answers, Albert Fried & Company Director of Research Rich Tullo looked at HBO’s partnership with Apple Inc.”
It’s important to look at that, ’cause ultimately what HBO is saying is… you, Comcast, are perhaps doing more to promote Netflix than HBO. We don’t like that. If we don’t like that, we’re going to take our show and put it on Apple and we have better economics than dealing with you if you’re not going to promote our programming. – Rich Tullo
“Whether Comcast could actually stop some users from getting HBO Now remains to be seen. Whatever happens, Tullo believes this is a ‘very important leverage point that they just created for themselves,'” Bedigian reports. “‘The second big company in Silicon Valley is also doing business with Time Warner,’ Tullo added, referring to HBO’s deal to provide content to Amazon.com, Inc. ‘So you’re going to have Apple and Amazon doing business with HBO and you have Netflix by themselves.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The whole thing is, as Steve would likely term it, a bag of hurt. Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we’d love to have an Apple UI controlling something that approaches an à la carte television system. We’d pay good money for that. These cable/satellite systems and their horrible boxes, DVRs, and awful UIs are only getting worse.
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