Among video streaming services, HBO Go has largely been the super-desirable, yet oddly anti-social girl at the party, preferring to keep to itself and its small, core group of HBO subscribers via basic web-streaming and select mobile devices, while Netflix and Hulu Plus whore it up with every supportable device that happens to wander into their field of vision, like the morally destitute strumpets they are.
Now it looks like after a few cocktails, HBO's morals are getting a tad looser, as the pay-cable behemoth today announced during their company earnings call today (as transcribed by Game Informer) that HBO would soon bring the service to other devices already connected to televisions, including game consoles. No specific platforms were mentioned, but one can presume that anything currently rolling Netflix and/or Hulu is a distinct possibility.
For anyone out of the know, HBO Go is essentially a collection of all the movies currently broadcasting on HBO, as well as nearly all of HBO's original programming. Everything from recent favorites like Game of Thrones, Treme, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, to classics like The Wire, Deadwood, and Oz. A few old favorites, like The Larry Sanders Show, Dream On, and Mr. Show aren't available, largely due to rights having been distributed elsewhere (you can find the entire series run of Larry Sanders on Netflix Instant, by the way).
HBO has made a big stink in recent years about services like Netflix's Instant Watch, begrudging license holders for giving away their content and cheapening the value of it. True to that notion, HBO Go is only available to current HBO subscribers, meaning you must have a cable subscription to even access it. No a la carte option currently exists.
Still, for anyone currently hooked into HBO, this is a pretty exciting prospect. Finally, you can watch all the episodes of Taxicab Confessions your parents wouldn't let you when you were twelve, and every tantalizing episode of Cathouse and Real Sex will be at your ready. Oh, and all those movies and non-pornographic TV shows too, I guess.
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