HBO today released a beta version of HBO Go, which allows paying cable subscribers to view HBO content on the web. The site can be accessed by visiting www.hbogo.com
Built entirely on Flash, the site is a little slow and user interaction could be significantly better. Even with the first version, there are a multiple limitations:
- Subscriber: In order to view HBO content, a visitor has to be a current HBO customer. With the initial launch, there are only 2 partners — Verizon FiOS and Comcast.
- Authentication: Similar to the NBC Olympics scenario, it requires customer account numbers for access. Given that most customers don’t have this readily available, this function is not very user friendly.
- Content: On first glance, one might expect that the site offers all HBO shows. However, that is not the case. Many shows, such as Entourage are just not available. Furthermore, for shows that are available, only a select number of seasons are published.
Overall, this is a positive move forward. However, all three of the issues mentioned above are counter-intuitive for the user. In order for this to be widely accepted, the site needs to improve user-experience. Furthermore, there should be an option to just pay for online access. Given that the site is still in beta, we’ll keep monitoring it’s progress.
