HBO Go is New Rival For Netflix

HBO has decided to launch HBO Go, its new video-streaming service to compete with Netflix.

If you don’t already have HBO or Cinemax, then this service won’t be offered to you- you can’t just purchase the web service.  However, if you do have HBO or Cinemax, HBO Go is offered for free.

Why would someone pay for HBO to get HBO Go?  The whole point of Netflix is it’s cheap and convenient.  You pay maybe $10 a month, get DVDs mailed to you and you can watch content available over the Internet.  The only problem here is the streaming video content is usually outdated material and the selection is rather small.  If you want any of the newer movies, you have to wait for them to be released to the masses then wait for the mail to come.  HBO pays oodles of money to get early access to newer films which you’d be allowed to watch over HBO Go.  It’s much easier to access.

But is the easier access really worth it?  HBO is expensive and Netflix is not.  In an economy where people don’t have a lot of extra income to throw about, are people really going to jump ship over to HBO just for earlier access to newer movies?  Probably not, but we will be terribly envious of those who can.