As a fan of many of HBO’s series, the new HBO Go website seemed almost too good to be true. Not only does the website (and iPad app) offer extra content for their new series Game of Thrones, but also a huge collection of movies and full episodes of HBO’s current and previously aired series to view streaming.
When I first heard about HBO Go, I went to the site and poked around a bit, amazed at the collection and excited that I can finally watch Band of Brothers all the way through. The selection of shows on the site appears to be much greater than what HBO On Demand offers. As a paying subscriber of HBO, I didn’t expect to have any issues signing up, until I was asked to select my cable provider from the list. As it turns out, Time Warner isn’t on there. No HBO Go for me.
Disappointed, irritated and a little surprised that such a popular cable provider wasn’t among those compatible with HBO Go, I tweeted my frustration and got a response back from HBO’s @GameOfThrones Twitter:
@kellywest11 Totally understood... we're adding new cable providers all the time. @HBOGO will keep you updated.
I appreciated them expressing a bit of understanding there. I followed @HBOGo and sure enough I’m being updated… Updated on retweets of people tweeting how awesome HBO Go is. I feel like a kid with her face pressed against the candy store window and my Time Warner subscription’s no good for all of the HBO Go goodies offered inside.
Apparently others have expressed similar curiosity and/or frustration at Time Warner being left off the list. Time Warner Cable’s Director of Digital Communication Jeff Simmermon whose Twitter is @JeffTWC tweeted that Time Warner is “actively negotiating” with HBO right now. Meanwhile, other sites report otherwise (DSLReports.com's source for this links to a site that requires a login to view, so I don't know how current their information really is.)
I'm hoping negotiations really are in progress. From the looks of it, HBO Go is a virtual buffet of HBO content. It may even be the “Netflix” of HBO shows in terms of available streaming content, which is fairly huge if you happen to love HBO shows and wish to watch or re-watch them on demand. I've had issues with Time Warner Cable's service before but I have a much higher tolerance for the occasional mess-up with my bill or service than I do feeling like I'm not getting the most out of what I'm paying for. Hopefully Time Warner Cable will get on board the HBO Go train soon because this feature may be too big to go without for long.
