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HBO Go lands in the PH

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HBO Go, the premium cable network's on-demand video streaming service, is now available in the Philippines via its exclusive cable partner SkyCable.First launched in 2010 in the US, the breakthrough product brings HBO’s original programs to multiple screens, extending the brand’s reach and more importantly the shelf life of its shows.It can also undoubtedly hook viewers for far longer, giving them access to over 1,000 hours of HBO original movies, concerts, documentaries and series they can watch anytime and anywhere on PCs, Macs, tablets and across iOS and Android platforms.The Philippines is the second country in Asia to offer HBO Go, a little over a year when it made its debut in Hong Kong in February. It enters a fairly new local market currently occupied by early entrants ABS-CBN and PLDT.On why choosing the Philippines instead of Singapore which boasts better infrastructure, Jonathan Spink, CEO of HBO Asia, said that content censorship has bogged down progress but he expressed optimism that legal matters can be ironed out to have a launch sooner in that country.InsperableCompared to the US where HBO has multiple partners, HBO Go will be available exclusively to SkyCable users, which Ray Montinola, COO of Sky Cable, admits is a “huge boost to its value proposition.”HBO Go is free for SkyCable subscribers of the HBO Pak, which contains the whole suite of HBO channels, while basic subscribers can avail the service by paying P199 a month.HBO Go and similar local services like iWant TV and Smart TV shows how critical screen choice has become to content consumption, a trend Katigbak owes to mobile.“It’s a function of people’s lifestyles. The technology, particularly mobile, is enabling that behavior and also shows how the industry is responding to demand. ”Industry observers are eager to see when will HBO sell the service directly to consumers. As seen in the popularity of HBO original shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and Sex in the City, such a move is argued to likely monetize HBO’s extensive library and upcoming ideas more effectively.Asked on the issue, Spink insisted that HBO Go without a cable subscription is not in the company’s plans yet, regardless if this leap jives with the current mobile trend.“You can’t instantly change something just because technology allows it. There is no practical economic reason for changing that. Whether that changes in the coming years, I don’t know but in this moment, this relationship with operators and viewers works,” Spink said.

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