Google has forged an agreement to bring premium TV channels HBO and Cinemax to its Google Fiber TV customers, the company announced today.

The availability of HBO on Google Fiber TV is a big win for those that may have been skeptical of the service because it lacked the robust lineup of channels available from other cable and satellite TV providers. When it first rolled out to Kansas City, Google Fiber lacked a bulk of sports programming as well as staple cable networks owned by Time Warner, such as Cartoon Network, TBS, and TNT. It also didn’t even give you the option of adding on HBO until now.

Like other cable providers, if you want HBO you’ll have to tack on an extra fee every month. The rate is $20 per month for all the HBO bundle of channels (HBO, HBO 2, HBO Signature, HBO Family, HBO Latino, HBO Comedy, and HBO Zone). For another $10 you can get the Cinemax bundle (Max, MoreMax, ActionMax, ThrillerMax, WMax, @Max, 5-StarMax, and OuterMax), too. You’ll also gain access to the HBO Go and Max Go streaming services, which are currently only available to those that subscribe through a cable service. Additionally, Google Fiber TV is offering a premium package for $40 per month that adds Starz and Showtime to the mix.

All rates are (I believe) slightly lower than what you’d be charged from other TV service providers, and at the end of the day it’s still probably cheaper to go with Google Fiber (with its blazing fast gigabit Internet package.) The greater Kansas City area customers will spend about $150 per month (not including taxes) to get HBO/Cinemax along with the standard bundle of over 150 cable channels and local broadcast affiliate stations. Pricing for Google Fiber in Austin, Tex. has yet to be determined, but Fiber employees at the city’s Google Fiber Austin event last week seemed to indicate that it wouldn’t be too far from what people are paying in KC. I’d imagine that would be true for these HBO and Cinemax packages, too.

Image via HBO

Lately, premium cable network HBO’s executive team has been rather open about the future of its streaming service HBO Go, and not just when it comes to original TV shows.

HBO Sports president Ken Hershman told a group of people at Harvard’s Sport’s Law Symposium yesterday that the network is actively pursuing the idea of putting livestreaming sporting events on HBO Go in 2013, according to Nieman Journalism Lab assistant editor Justin Ellis, who attended the event. However, The Verge is reporting that HBO has no intentions of adding live sports to the streaming service anytime soon.

HBO is known for providing excellent sports commentary and for its coverage of boxing via its After Dark series, both of which are available on HBO Go after they air on the TV channel. If true, livestreaming sports programming would go a long way towards getting people to spend big bucks on a stand-alone HBO Go plan.

Last week HBO chief exec Richard Plepler theorized that the company would eventually offer its HBO Go service as part of a bundled plan that included a broadband Internet subscription. And while Plepler said the network would “need to make the numbers work,” a more expensive HBO plan would have to offer more than just access to on-demand movies and original TV shows like Game of Thrones, Girls, Newsroom, and True Blood. Yet, it’s much more likely that livestreaming sports content will arrive for those that pay for cable before anything.

Image via HBO

HBO’s executive leadership seems locked on keeping access to the premium cable network exclusive to cable and satellite TV subscribers, the same isn’t necessarily true for its HBO Go streaming service.

At the Game of Thrones season three premiere event earlier this week, the channel’s chief exec Richard Plepler opened up about the possibility of selling standalone access to HBO Go as part of a bundled broadband Internet subscription plan. Plepler suggested that bundling Internet service with premium streaming video services could be part of a new evolution for how content is packaged, but didn’t offer any kind of hard time frame of when it could happen, reports Reuters.

“We would have to make the math work,” Plepler told Reuters.

And I think I speak for a whole slew of people when I say, HBO needs to get cracking on that math ASAP.

HBO Go’s streaming app provides on-demand access to hundreds of notable movies as well as a complete library of all HBO original programming, including The Sopranos, True Blood, Newsroom, and Game of Thrones. And since HBO Go is currently a complimentary service to the cable channel, you’ll need to spend about $25 to $40 on top of a regular monthly cable or satellite TV subscription bill.

Yet, if HBO Go did become something that customers could add on to their Internet bundle, Plepler indicated that it could drop the price of the streaming service to an estimated $10 to $15 per month. That means people who only wanted Internet and HBO shows would spend around $65 per month instead of the over $150 in monthly subscriptions as a result of having a full cable TV service within a bundle of services.

Depending on who you talk to and which reports you read, cable TV subscriptions are being seen as unnecessary expenses that can’t compete with low-cost streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, each of which cost $8 per month for a large library of video content. Over the next few years, this could translate into drastically lower cable TV customer — and in turn cut into the lucrative revenue stream that HBO currently gets by keeping the channel paired with cable subscriptions. And when you look at it that way, pairing HBO Go with broadband Internet actually makes a lot of sense for everyone except the cable companies.

Image via HBO

Rumors that Apple was working on bringing HBO’s streaming-video counterpart HBO Go to its Apple TV set-top box last week proved half-true today.

HBO Go’s iOS apps now work with the Airplay feature starting today, according to HBO president Eric Kessler during an interview at the D: Dive into Media conference. Anyone who has an iPhone or iPad and a existing subscription to HBO from their cable or satellite TV provider can now watch the streaming service from their Apple TV-enabled television screen.

HBO Go provides on-demand access to hundreds of movies and a complete library of all HBO original programming, such as the The Sopranos, True Blood, Newsroom, and Game of Thrones. This is probably a big win for anyone who stuck it out with the Apple TV as other streaming devices, like the Roku or Xbox Live, gained access to HBO Go nearly a year ago.

It also begs the question of whether Apple will eventually add a native application for HBO Go on the Apple TV in the near future — say before the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 3, maybe?.

Photo by Tom Cheredar/VentureBeat

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes actually praised Netflix during today’s Q4 2012 earnings call, despite the streaming video service being a rival of his company’s premium cable network HBO.

That’s probably the last thing you’d expect to hear during an earnings call — especially since Netflix just debut its first HBO-quality original TV series House of Cards.

During the call, Bewkes gave credit for its efforts on House of Cards, the service’s nice user interface, and consumer friendly support across services.  He then followed up by informing shareholders that Netflix is not really in the same ball park when it comes to subscribers and original programing — and thus, not quite worth comparing to HBO.

HBO has a total of 114 million subscribers across the globe, which is over three times the total number of subscriptions from Netflix (33 million worldwide). HBO is also producing multiple original series, including newcomers Girls and Newsroom as well as certified hits True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, and Game of Thrones. Additionally, the debut of HBO’s HBO Go streaming service to domestic subscribers helped boost overall usage (streaming and cable viewing) by 80 percent compared to the same period last year.

“The strength of programming on HBO and Cinemax and the success of HBO GO and MAX GO helped generate the best subscriber gains in a decade,” Bewkes said during the call. “Both brands are an improvement at virtually all of our major affiliates [and] together, they added 1.9 million subscribers domestically for the year.”

While HBO has more overall subscribers, it’s worth noting that Netflix brought in more domestic subscribers in a single quarter than the pay channel did in an entire year. Netflix is also poised to launch more original programming later in the year, including a resurrected Arrested Development.

Still, HBO is forging ahead by increasing its international presence. Time Warner launched a standalone version of its HBO Go streaming service in the Nordic market, which doesn’t require subscribers to get HBO through a cable TV provider the way its domestic customers must do.

Today HBO also announced a new two-year exclusive contract with Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin to as a creative consultant on the show as well as develop new series for the cable channel.

Image via HBO

Rumors are now circulating that Apple is currently in negotiations with Time Warner to bring the HBO Go app to its Apple TV set-top boxes later this year.

HBO Go is the streaming video service of the premium cable channel of the same name. This provides on-demand access to hundreds of movies and a complete library of all HBO original programming, such as the The Sopranos, True Blood, Newsroom, and Game of Thrones. The only catch is that you must already be subscribed to HBO through a cable or satellite TV provider, which costs anywhere from $15 to $40 on top of your regular monthly subscription bill.

The news, which comes from a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources, might have been exciting a year ago when HBO Go first came to competitor Roku’s line of streaming devices, Xbox Live, iOS devices, and a handful of others. This is especially true when considering all of HBO Go’s setbacks.

In addition to not being able to pay for HBO Go as a standalone service (like you would with Netflix), it also requires authentication that you subscribe to a cable service before it gives you access. And not all cable providers enable their customers to access HBO Go seamlessly. Such is the case with Comcast, which only permits subscribers to use HBO Go via Xbox Live but not the Roku or iOS apps.

The point is, adding a HBO Go app to Apple TV isn’t going to make the device more exciting. At best, it’ll probably defer a few long-time Apple customers from buying a Roku or upgrading their television to a new Samsung Smart TV if they really want HBO Go.

Apple is clearly not making the Apple TV a priority, as we’ve previously pointed out, and the company dragging its feet on HBO Go is just another example.

Photo by Tom Cheredar

When it comes to HBO’s streaming anywhere service HBO Go, those with Android devices have been left out in the cold. Until now.

The premium cable channel is bringing the HBO Go app to all Android tablets running at least version 4.06 (Ice Cream Sandwich) of the mobile operating system. We suspected full Android support was coming since HBO released a version of the app for Amazon’s Android-based Kindle Fire in June. I would say this is perfect timing for people who plan on buying a new Google-branded Nexus 7, but it looks like we’ll have to wait until HBO updates the app to work on Jelly Bean.

Now, all Android device owners can get their weekly fix of True Blood and (my new favorite show) Newsroom as well as previous episodes of Veep, The Wire, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and more. And as always, to access the HBO Go app, you’ll still need to subscribe to a traditional cable provider with a monthly HBO content package.

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The awesome HBO Go service has landed on Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, but like Jon Snow at The Wall, all other Android tablet owners are still out in the cold.

HBO Go’s service gives HBO subscribers access to the premium TV channel’s catalog of original programming, including newer shows like “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood,” as well as classics such as “The Wire” and “Deadwood.” The service has thus far been available on the iPad, iPhone, some Android phones, Xbox 360, and other devices. But it has not been on Android tablets until today, perhaps because the Kindle Fire is easily the most popular Android-based tablet in the U.S. so there is more incentive to develop for it.

Notably, HBO Go has attracted scrutiny this week because some folks were upset HBO won’t offer it as a stand-alone service. At this point, you have to pay for HBO through your cable provider to get access to the service. HBO is not ruling out the possibility of changing its business model, but for now it will continue to be quite pricey to get access.

Watch the short HBO Go Kindle Fire announcement below:

Design is determining the winners in everything mobile. The most successful players are focusing on one thing: How to make products, services, and devices as compelling and delightful as possible – visually, and experientially. MobileBeat 2012, July 10 -11 in San Francisco, is assembling the most elite minds to debate how UI/UX is transforming every aspect of the mobile economy, and where the opportunities lie. Register here.

Earlier this week, Comcast was rumored to be in discussions about letting its subscribers finally access HBO Go on the Xbox. Friday, the company made it official, saying that “early next week” Comcast subscribers can watch their favorite HBO shows through the official HBO Go Xbox Live app.

Game of Thrones-watching-Comcast subscribers can now check out their favorite episodes on the HBO Go app as well as the Xfinity TV Xbox app for Comcast’s streaming on-demand service. To access the content in either app, you’ll just need the username and password you’d use for Xfinity TV.

The move will likely make a lot of Comcast customers happy, most of whom would rather go straight to the HBO Go app to watch their expensive shows and take advantage of the extra content not available on Xfinity TV (making-of extras, outtakes, interviews, etc.).

HBO Go recently made its way to the Xbox, following the iPad, smartphones, and set-top boxes. The app has gained a lot of popularity among cable subscribers, but Comcast customers couldn’t use it until now.

Game of Thrones image via HBO

Comcast is finalizing a deal to make the HBO Go Xbox app available to its 22.3 million customers, reports the New York Times.

That means Comcast customers will be able to watch new episodes of Game of Thrones anytime they want, provided that they own an Xbox 360 and pay the additional fee for HBO on their monthly cable bill.

HBO Go gives cable TV customers the ability to stream HBO’s large library of movies, documentaries, specials, and original TV shows on a variety of platforms with internet connectivity. The service is available on iOS and Android devices, set-top boxes, smart TVs, and most recently the Xbox. Several large cable TV services (Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Uverse) permit their customers to take advantage of those apps, but Comcast isn’t one of them.

Comcast wants its customers to use its Xfinity TV streaming service for all premium content, not HBO’s standalone apps. The cable company’s decision has irritated many subscribers, including Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

“I’m paying you a lot of money for HBO,” Hastings wrote in a Facebook update last week. “So please let me watch HBO Go on my TV.”

Personally, I always pegged Hastings as a supporter of the cordcutting movement. But with Netflix trying to more directly compete with HBO, Showtime, and Starz, it makes sense that he’s still a cable subscriber. Last month, Hastings even attempted to open a discussion with Comcast about bundling Netflix’s streaming service with cable TV subscriptions.

If Comcast does finalize a deal with HBO, it could give its customers access to the HBO Go Xbox App within a week, according to the NYT report. But given the company’s previous behavior, it’s unlikely the deal will extend to other platforms with HBO Go integration.

Game of Thrones image via HBO

HBO has added support for its HBO Go streaming service to Xbox 360, giving gamers yet another reason not to turn off their console to watch television shows.

The news was announced last night at an Xbox 360 event by HBO Co-President Eric Kessler, reports Engadget. HBO Go service offers a variety of premium content, including popular movies as well as hit original TV series like True Blood and Boardwalk Empire. However, the only way to get the service is to subscribe to HBO through a traditional cable/satellite service provider.

The service will become available April 1, which coincides with the premiere of the second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones TV show, which is based off of George R.R. Martin’s series of novels. Previously, HBO has tried to give cable and satellite TV subscribers an incentive to use the HBO Go service by allowing them to watch next week’s episode after they finish the premiere — but, so far there’s no word on whether the same will happen with Game of Thrones).

The HBO Go app grants paid HBO subscribers the ability to view the entire library of HBO content, which is composed of 1,400 TV episodes, documentaries and movies. HBO isn’t cannibalizing its current business since viewers must subscribe to a HBO package through a pre-existing cable or satellite provider, such as AT&T, Verizon or DirecTV. Now, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable can be added to that list. HBO Go launched about a year ago online. The company released a very successful mobile iOS app in May, which has been downloaded over 3 million times.

Subscribers from both cable companies have been requesting access to the HBO extended service for months. As part of the deal, those subscribers will also gain access to HBO’s sister service Cinemax’s MAX Go.

While Time Warner Cable subscribers will get access to HBO Go next month, Cablevision — which primarily serves residents in the New York metropolitan area — may have to wait a few months to give access to its subscribers.

Speaking at an event in New York City yesterday, Kessler said there is no chance his company will make its original programs like True Blood or The Wire available to non-cable subscribers, according to a MocoNews report.

The HBO Go service is a streaming video extension provided to people who subscribe to an HBO package through a pre-existing cable or satellite provider, such as Comcast, AT&T, Verizon or DirecTV. HBO’s business model has transitioned away from relying on licensing from movies to bring in and maintain its base of customers. Now, the company produces original content like Game of Thrones and Entourage, which is worth the elevated cable bill for some customers. However, it seems the company has no plans to make those shows available through a streaming-only subscription similar to what’s offered by Netflix.

HBO currently has about 30 million paying customers, many of who take advantage of the company’s streaming options. As VentureBeat reported in late June, a third of its customers have downloaded the HBO Go iOS app, making it a success in the eyes of the company. HBO followed up with a similar app, MAX Go, for its sister network Cinemax in August. Yet, despite all of this digital activity, the company still thinks a streaming-only option isn’t worth bothering with.

Kessler also said his company sees cord cutting as a temporary phenomenon that will go away once the larger economy improves. (Although, people might also turn to illegal distribution practices like torrents or unofficial video streams.)

But I think its inevitable that HBO will transform into a streaming-only network. Right now, the company is getting a good stream of revenue through its partnerships with cable and satellite TV providers. But as costs rise and people cancel their service, HBO will have to revisit the cord-cutting business model.

The popularity of streaming media set-top boxes is on the rise over the last year. And compared to competitors like Apple’s $99 Apple TV device, the Roku LT is on the lower end of the pricing spectrum.

Much like more expensive set-top box models, the Roku LT offers 720p quality video playback and will give users access to over 300 channels of programming, including Hulu Plus, Netflix, Epix, Amazon Prime Instant Video and many others. The LT model, however, doesn’t have an SD card reader or support for Bluetooth technology.

The new Roku LT box will be available for purchase in brick and mortar retail stores like Walmart, Target and Best Buy, as well as Roku’s web store and Amazon.

The move by Roku signals a new strategy by the company to focus on customers that already have a cable or satellite TV subscription. About 80 percent of Roku owners still have subscriptions to cable or satellite, according to Roku CEO Anthony Wood.

In keeping with that new strategy, the company also announced that all of its set-top boxes will soon have access to the HBO Go service, which provides premium movies and original TV content, like True Blood and Game of Thrones. HBO Go is only available to cable or satellite subscribers with a preexisting HBO channel package.

Both the Roku LT box and access to HBO Go are scheduled to launch later this month.

Founded in 2002, the Saratoga, California-based company has a total of $22.4 million in funding to date.

The catch? Viewers only get access to live streams if they already pay for CNN through certain cable or satellite providers.

The list of providers, which covers about 50 million people, includes AT&T, Comcast, Cox Dish Network, Suddenlink, and Verizon. Weirdly enough, Time Warner Cable is not on the list of cable providers, even though CNN is part of the Time Warner family. Customers of Cablevision, another major cable provider, are also out of luck for the time being.

Time Warner has been a significant proponent of the “TV Everywhere” movement that lets customers watch TV through other devices, provided they’ve already paid for the programming. The well-received HBO Go service shows how this can be done well, as it provides a massive amount of content to users already paying for HBO through companies like Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and DirecTV.

“A principal goal for CNN is to make more of our content available to more people on more platforms, and CNN’s participation in the TV Everywhere initiative is another step forward in that effort,” said Jim Walton, President of CNN Worldwide, in a statement. “We have long believed that our growth depends on keeping CNN essential and relevant to consumers wherever they are.”

Time will tell if Time Warner is able to push CNN 24/7 streaming for more of its already paying customers. But that will solely depend on Time Warner being able to make agreements with cable and satellite providers. This can prove especially challenging in an environment where companies want to charge more for consuming the same media content on additional devices.

Have you tried the CNN 24/7 streaming option? Will you use watch it more often now that you have more viewing options?

The company teased versions of a streaming media app HBO Go on the iPad and android-based mobile devices in a Youtube video (below) released earlier today.

The service will enable subscribers the ability to view the entire library of HBO content, which is composed of 1,400 episodes, documentaries and movies. The downside to all of this is that you must be subscribed to a HBO package through a pre-existing cable or satellite provider, such as Comcast, AT&T, Verizon or DirecTV.

One thing worth pointing is that screens of the iOS application for HBO GO were more than visible in the video — but the shot of the smartphone only contained a video, with no Android user interface to speak of.

The iPad was also the only device specifically named in the teaser video, which could mean that iOS enabled devices will be available at launch, with an Android version to follow there after.

Offering HBO Go support on tablets and mobile devices is another natural step in the company’s strategy to keep its content exclusive, rather than licensing it out to other streaming services like Netflix.

“There is value in exclusivity,” Kessler said in an interview with Bloomberg. He went on to say that consumers “are willing to pay a premium for high quality, exclusive content.”

HBO is owned by Time Warner and has cable and internet rights to movies from Warner Brothers, Universal, and Twentieth Century Fox. Netflix already has access to films from Sony Pictures and Disney via its Starz Play deal, as well as films from MGM, Paramount, and Lionsgate with its recent deal with Epix. It has exclusive rights to indie film titles from Relativity.

Compared to Epix and Starz, HBO doesn’t need Netflix’s support nearly as much, since it’s readying its own streaming video service for subscribers, HBO Go. The service is currently live for Verizon FiOS subscribers (and Comcast users soon). In six months, Kessler expects it to be available for HBO subscribers across all major cable companies, mobile devices, and the iPad. It currently makes about 800 hours worth of content available on a rotating basis.

HBO has more than 29 million subscribers. In comparison, Netflix has 13 million (making it on-par with Showtime) and expects to have 15 million subscribers by the end of the year.

It’s not entirely surprising that HBO would be hesitant to make a licensing agreement with Netflix, especially since it already has solid streaming video plans of its own. But as smaller networks and studios join forces with Netflix and its user base grows, HBO may find it worth licensing some content to the service — if only to lure media-hungry users into an HBO subscription.

HBO Go is one of the first attempts by Time Warner as part of the TV Everywhere initiative. The site launched today for Verizon FiOS subscribers, who simply need to log in with their Verizon account information to get access to over 600 hours of content.

HBO Go content has also been available for Comcast customers via the company’s Fancast video streaming site. Comcast customers will eventually be able to log into HBO Go; but currently if they attempt to, they’ll be redirected to Fancast.

I haven’t used the service myself since I’m not a FiOS subscriber, but initial impressions from others are pretty much what I expected. One big complaint is that the service’s 600 hours of content –  which rotates every month — is somewhat limiting. Given that Go has just launched, we’ll likely see HBO increase the amount of content available within a few months.

Ultimately, the difficult part about getting premium content online isn’t the video hosting aspect — it’s the authentication. Comcast/Time Warner’s TV Everywhere is basically just an authentication system for their subscribers.

We recently reported that Brightcove announced a similar platform of its own — the TV Everywhere Solution Pack (TVE-SP). Brightcove’s technology would allow other cable networks, like Showtime and SyFy, to offer their own premium content to subscribers via a single authentication system.

None of these services will convince me to subscribe to cable, FiOS, or satellite TV again, but it’s a start. I’d be far more interested if the cable companies sold subscriptions to their online streaming content on its own. For example, I would pay a nominal monthly fee to be able to stream SyFy’s content on the web. We’re not there yet, but it’s something the cable companies will have to consider eventually.