HBO Nordic Brings Streaming Programming To Users Without Pay-TV Subscription

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Ray
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Member Topic Starter

2012-08-30T22:56:23Z

In America, you can't have your cake and eat it to, but in Scandinavia, you can. Allow us to explain. Throngs of HBO content lovers have requested that HBO allow its HBO Go services to be paid for on a per-user basis, but in America, HBO forces you to have a pay-TV subscription to HBO before it's ever an option. It's one of the longstanding ills of television: you buy the pack of channels, or you get none. But in Nordic lands, things have been rolling a bit differently for some time now, and that's continuing with HBO. The first HBO branded service will be available in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark in the middle of October to bring Boardwalk Empire, The Newsroom, Game of Thrones and the rest of the bunch to those countries... and you won't need a pay-TV subscription to get them.

We're told that all programs will be available to subscribers for less than €10 via the network's streaming service hbonordic.com, but a specific breakdown of costs for those who do not subscribe to HBO via cable or satellite has yet to be hashed out. Regardless, we certainly hope this is a sign of good things to come; the U.S. could definitely use a company like HBO to break the ice on a la carte offerings.

HBO NORDIC TO LAUNCH MID-OCTOBER

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The first HBO® branded service will be available in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark offering hit series like Boardwalk Empire?, The Newsroom?, Game of Thrones?, True Blood?, Veep?, Girls? plus films, documentaries and much more.

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Stockholm, August 30th, 2012 – HBO Nordic AB, the newly formed joint venture of Home Box Office, Inc. and Parsifal International, has announced that it will launch its linear and on-demand premium pay TV service mid-October 2012 in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

As the first HBO-branded service in the region, HBO Nordic will offer a premium, 24-hour, advertising-free channel. HBO will offer both subscription and transactional video-on-demand services, providing premium content directly to consumers via HBO Nordic's untethered, "over-the-top" platform, hbonordic.com, and also via local distribution partners.

"We saw a rapid change in Nordic TV consumption these past years. Our target group is younger and more urban than the existing premium pay TV subscribers and they consume TV on multiple screens, particularly on computers, smartphones and tablets. Most of them associate HBO with best in class series. We view this as a unique opportunity for HBO to grow digital pay-TV subscriptions in the region", says Hervé Payan, CEO of HBO Nordic.

HBO Nordic will offer subscribers all seasons and behind- the-scene materials of hit series, including Boardwalk Empire?, The Newsroom?, Game of Thrones?, True Blood?, Veep? and Girls?, as well as classics like [censored]and the City?, The SopranosSM and The WireSM and new series premiering in the Nordics from other content providers including titles such as Magic City?, Hit and Miss?, Continuum?, and Borgia. The HBO Nordic offering will also include feature films from major Hollywood and international studios, local distributors and independents.

"HBO Nordic is the first service in the Nordic countries to combine day-and-date delivery and streaming of the latest episodes of an HBO original series subtitled in the local language, with all past seasons. This service will be available on any internet connected device", says Hervé Payan.

All programs will be available to subscribers for less than €10 via the network's streaming service hbonordic.com.

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nicoletoledo
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Member

2012-08-31T01:11:26Z

Only in america you can see that kind of treatment. But only in america tha you can actually dream and live it. Double edge sword but the other side is a little dull.

BurntChz
50.25% (Neutral)
Member

2012-08-31T11:59:29Z

It seems TV programmers learned nothing from the music industry. Instead of giving people what they want for a reasonable price and a LEGAL channel to get it, they’re trying to make their content a premium digital product. This only creates more people wanting the stuff for free and sharing it with everyone on the Internet. Streaming media is the future (some would argue present), and these companies are going to lose out on a lot of revenue streams if they don't smarten up quick.

Sure you can get these episodes months later on DVD/Blu-Ray, but most of us don’t want to wait that long and don’t want all those discs around. Then there’s iTunes and Amazon which are good alternatives, but $4 an episode? REALLY!? When the DVDs are $35-$40 for all 20 episodes!? Downloads cost next to nothing to produce that’s a fact, so compare that to the physical discs and packaging for a DVD set, and I STILL pay more for the download copies? Come on now. This is just more American corporate greed hard at work I guess.

ken_gunt06
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Member

2014-08-05T19:54:56Z

Great article. For those who can access HBO Nordic in their county like me, you can use UnoTelly or similar services to get around the block.

Bigbadwolf
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Member

2014-08-06T02:41:23Z

In English? :)

adelesamantha
50.25% (Neutral)
Member

2014-10-13T02:06:35Z

This is nice! I was able to watch other channels too aside from HBO Nordic. If you are outside the US like me and want to access your favorite channels, you can use UnoTelly to get around the geoblock/!

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