HBO a Comcast Competitor, TDG Analyst Says

HBO Now, HBO’s stand-alone offering, is a Comcast competitor, TDG Research analyst Alan Wolk said in a note Thursday. HBO Now is suited for cord-nevers and cord cutters, he said. Comcast hopes its customers will use X1 and X2 set-tops, while other multichannel video programming distributors could shift to a bring-your-own-device system, he said. Set-top boxes are dated, difficult to update and unreliable, he said. Customers could buy Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV or Roku and MVPDs could provide an app, he said. Operators could instead offer branded devices and make customers install and maintain them, he said. “This would take the onus to provide STBs off the operator” and allow more frequent updates, Wolk said. Comcast wants to control its interface and “create a standard for the industry,” selling X1 and X2 to peers, he said. The set-top could include streaming services, like Amazon or Netflix, he said. Pay-TV subscribers who have HBO Go have “the best of both worlds” with HBO live through set-tops and on-demand through an app, he said. HBO Go is available on mobile and in-home connected devices at no extra charge, he said. MVPDs shouldn’t worry about HBO-subscribing customers deserting them, he said. To keep HBO customers, MVPDs can offer a lower package price, add 10 MB of Internet speed for free or give two free years of HBO for renewals, he said.