How much big news came out of Monday’s Apple Event? For the tech-minded among us, Tim Cook introduced the Apple Watch, which essentially sounds like a tiny iPhone attached to a leather band that you can wear around your wrist in case you are too busy with your hands to get your phone out of your pocket. Don’t worry, the fancy one will only set you back $17,000! The new trackpad is called Force Touch; this information, combined with the existence of the “iPad,” just confirms that the Apple powers-that-be never ask any women to weigh in on naming decisions.
In more affordable and arguably more exciting updates, HBO CEO Richard Pepler was on hand to officially announce the launch HBO NOW, HBO’s long-awaited standalone streaming service. (He also revealed a new trailer for the upcoming season of Game of Thrones.)
All the cool kids are getting streaming services these days: even fuddy-duddy NBC is rolling out a comedy-focused subscription service, in large part to cash in on the immensely popular but not-yet-monetized viral videos from Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. At the same time, streaming services are doubling down on what new shows they can offer: Netflix’s latest victory is the new comedy from 30 Rock geniuses Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which premiered on the site last Friday. Content providers like Amazon and Netflix are making huge gains in the world of original programming, encroaching on the critical acclaim turf that has long been HBO’s to lose. So it’s not a surprise that HBO is fighting back, stepping into the streaming domain that Netflix and its ilk have been dominating for years.
So, what do we know so far about HBO NOW?
The basicsTimed, wisely, to the fifth season premiere of Game of Thrones, HBO NOW will launch in April. It will cost $14.99 a month.
HBO NOW will only be available through Apple TV…In case you were wondering why the world found out big HBO news during an Apple presentation, this is why: you can only get HBO NOW if you have Apple TV. Apple TV will drop in price from $99 to $69, sweetening that deal. But if you buy Apple TV, you still need to pay for an internet connection (about $50 a month, give or take). Add HBO NOW, and one other streaming service — say, Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime — you’ll wind up spending about $75 a month.
…at least, for now.From the press release, “HBO continues to be in discussions with its existing network of distributors and new digital partners to offer HBO NOW. At launch, HBO NOW will be available on iOS devices and on PCs.”
Old shows will be available, too.HBO NOW will offer just about the entire HBO back catalog, including Sex and the City and The Sopranos, just like HBO GO. HBO will also make new original programming available on the app. Basically, everything you can get on HBO, you can get on HBO NOW, without a cable subscription but with an Apple TV.
How big a deal is this?The idea of “standalone” HBO was exactly that: that it would be standalone. That you could get just HBO, without being tethered to an expensive cable package that required you to pay for hundreds of channels you never watched. This liberates viewers from that model, but not by much. You can’t buy HBO all by itself; it still has to be a part of a much larger purchase. According to the FCC, the average household spends about $64 a month on the cable bill; maybe the “average” doesn’t include add-ons like HBO, but still, this Apple-plus-HBO deal isn’t exactly a bargain. For people who have already cut the cord, this is a great upgrade: $15 a month, possibly shared among roommates, and you’re free from stealing your ex’s HBO GO password forevermore. But for people who still have cable, or people who have gone the all-internet route and are making it work with a Hulu-Amazon-Netflix cocktail, I’m not sure how enticing this will be.
What does this mean for cable?A believer in the power of competition would say that this development will force cable companies to stop overcharging for their services. HBO is an industry leader and, along with sports, tends to be that can’t-do-without-it thing that keeps people coming back to cable. Then again, Comcast is still shilling a “triple-play” that encourages customers to save money by investing in a landline phone along with cable and internet, so, we are not exactly talking about a company that is keeping up with our hip, modern age.
Last month, Dish announced the launch of Sling TV, a live-streaming service that only required an internet connection, would offer ESPN, and costs only $20 a month, there was some buzz about the death of cable/TV/the bundle/life as we know it. But Dish is a cable company and, as we said at the time, cable will not kill cable. But HBO and Apple are a different story: Apple is an outsider, in love with the language of tech start-ups and game to “disrupt” the industry. HBO is technically an insider, despite its tagline of “not TV.” HBO is a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., which also owns Time Warner Cable (at least, until the merger with Comcast is finalized). HBO aligning with Apple is, perhaps, a sign that HBO doesn’t really care if cable makes it out alive, so long as HBO can keep — or get back, depending on your point of view — its position as the most highly-regarded premium pay TV service.
Update:
A previous version of this piece incorrectly stated the cost of Apple TV.