ROKU, HBO GO

Comcast hates thier customers but loves thier money. The worst company I deal with is Comcast. They are the only choice where I live abd I have a historic house and I can not put a dish up.

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Right - it's got to be the latter (issues with either HBO in some cases or Comcast in others) since apparently TiVo doesn't have HBOGo at all?

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I think Microsoft did a deal with HBO to keep HBO Go off other competing devices - it's not on Wii, PS3/PS4 or Tivo - unlike Netflix, and it's only available on Xbox if you pay the XBox Live annual fee (with cable company authorization too of course).

It's a shame - I'd love to see HBO Go on my Playstation - I refuse to pay for XBL Gold just to watch TV content I already pay for...

I'm pretty sure apple tv was outside the scope of the deal... give me any other reason there is no HBO-Go on PS3/Wii... I know the systems can handle what ever tech they need.

You are all forgetting that Comcast supports HBOgo on Apple TV. No evidence of Microsoft conspiracy there!

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I think Microsoft did a deal with HBO to keep HBO Go off other competing devices - it's not on Wii, PS3/PS4 or Tivo - unlike Netflix, and it's only available on Xbox if you pay the XBox Live annual fee (with cable company authorization too of course).

 

It's a shame - I'd love to see HBO Go on my Playstation - I refuse to pay for XBL Gold just to watch TV content I already pay for...

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Comcast is probably going after a kickback from the device creators. Apple (iOS), Google (Android), Microsoft (Xbox, Tablets) have no problem with this. Roku is a much smaller company and probably doesn't have many carriers that won't do it for free. Same reason why Samsung TVs don't have access, because Samsung won't play ball with Comcast directly.

As for the game consoles, money changed hands between HBO and Microsoft to keep it exclusive to the Xbox platform.

I will add my voice to those wanting HBO GO on the Roku via Comcast.  For all the good it will do.

Here's the BS reply from Comcast:

Dear Mark,

My apologies for any inconvenience you may have had. Thank you for sending your account information and with a description of how we can assist. At this time, we have no ETA to when this will be available on Roku. All cable providers have different features, products and services. This feature is something we are looking to provide at a later date that is unknown at this time. I apologize that I cannot give you a more specific date. I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any additional questions. Kindly “reply to all.”

Sincerely,

Chad A.

Comcast Social Media Specialist

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@FrozenSlime wrote:

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wrote:

Right - it's got to be the latter (issues with either HBO in some cases or Comcast in others) since apparently TiVo doesn't have HBOGo at all?

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I think Microsoft did a deal with HBO to keep HBO Go off other competing devices - it's not on Wii, PS3/PS4 or Tivo - unlike Netflix, and it's only available on Xbox if you pay the XBox Live annual fee (with cable company authorization too of course).

 

It's a shame - I'd love to see HBO Go on my Playstation - I refuse to pay for XBL Gold just to watch TV content I already pay for...

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On the contrary, the lack of COMCAST authentication for HBOgo on Roku has nothing to do with any "deal" Microsoft may have made to avoid "competing" devices....since HBOgo works quite well on Roku for Dish, Brighthouse, TimeWarner...well, essentially every other provider other than DirectTV and Comcast. Oh, on my Samsung smart tv as well, HBOgo is fine with Dish....the issue is COMCAST not a deal between MS and HBO....

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@FrozenSlime wrote:

I'm pretty sure apple tv was outside the scope of the deal... give me any other reason there is no HBO-Go on PS3/Wii... I know the systems can handle what ever tech they need.

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Ummm....then why would it also be availalbe on Roku and Samsung smart tvs for any other provider except Comcast and DirectTV (I now have Dish and have HBOgo on both Roku and my Samsung tv).I would say it is more an issue that Sony does not want to support it. 

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@workerdummy wrote:

I think I've posted this before, this is what I've been told by installers and tech support people at Comcast. What they said seems believable, plus I'd trust them over a suit and a canned e-mail reply most days.

 

1: HBO Go (and I am guessing all the cable channels added to Roku lately) is not being authorized by Comcast on Roku because Roku is a proponant of the "cut the cable" movement. Comcast does not like that for obvious reasons and is acting accordingly.

 

2: An HBO Go app is supposed to be added, soon, to the X1/2 platforms. I was also told by tech support that the X1/2 platforms were supposed to be, for all practical purposes, complete in November, last month. That was to include some sort of app store and other functionality we don't currently have. No other details available what that would be.

 

Take that for what it's worth.

 

I'd be happy if they would add custom ringing to their phone service so I don't have to pay $30-40 a month more for what I used to pay the local phone company $3 a month.

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It's interesting, because I've decided to hook up HBO Go on my Roku using my Grandmother's Time Warner account.  I cancelled all of my premium channels with Comcast/Xfinity and made it clear during cancellation that I would be more than willing to start paying them again for HBO if they stop limiting access to HBO Go.  I'm using my garbage xfinity box less and less simply because of how inconvenient it is to find content.  The "X1" still isn't available in my area.  "On Demand" is garbage.   Comcast/Xfinity is trying to fight a battle against cord cutters and the approach they are taking is going to fail.   They are lagging behind.  They might continue to scam grandmothers ala AOL, but the world is going towards devices that give them access to multiple streaming services.  Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, etc.  If Comcast is smart, they will re-think everything and create a new device that embraces streaming services instead of running away from it.   They still have a monopoly on live television.  The next next generation DVR box should include:


#1 - Live HD television and DVR.  Obviously.

#2 - Toss "On Demand" in a toilet.  Add a netflixy interface for finding all streaming on demand content.  The "X1" looked promising, but I've heard very negative reviews on it.  The Xfinity IOS app seems to be a step in this direction.  No endless menus... let me filter by channel, genre, hd, etc.

#3 - Give us access within the box to HBO Go and Showtime Anytime.  The catalog of content is vastly superior to what is offered through On Demand.

#4 - Give access within the box to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, etc.  Did you just throw up in your mouth, Comcast?  Good.  You can't fight it... people will want access to those services.  Instead of trying to limit our access within Roku/Apple TV, etc, you should be trying to compete with those devices and make them irrelevant.  If you provided access within the next-next-gen Xfinity box to all streaming services + your own content... and made it all easily searchable and sortable under one easy-to-use interface... people would gladly keep paying the $18 a month you are scamming them out of to lease your existing piece of garbage DVR boxes. 

It's interesting, because the XBox One seems to be the one device closest to putting everything under one roof.  You can watch live television.  XBox One will (eventually) have access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, Hulu Plus... and possibly even an Xfinity app.  The one thing it's lacking is any kind of DVR support for recording live television.  But the thought process behind the XBox One is that they want to become the only media device you need to use.  This is the thought process Xfinity/Comcast needs to adopt as cable companies evolve in this new streaming world of media.   Become the premiere content provider.  Make all other devices irrelevant.  You know, it actually almost makes sense for Comcast to partner with Microsoft and literally release branded/modified XBox One devices with added DVR access.  Force customers to lease them for $30 a month.  You'll make your money back in no time.

That's not the only thing it would do. Not sure if you noticed, but the HBO movies availaible on ON Demand are not always the same as the ones availaible on HBOgo, that alone is worth being able to play it on my ROKU 

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@rog286713 wrote:

the only thing the app would do is provide you on demand type programming, which you should have with your regular cable box, what exactly would you like the app to be on roku that you can't already do with your cable box.?

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