Dear HBO, It's Not News Unless You Respond

 I saw this report last week sometime, and decided not to acknowledge it since it has so many different factors. The report doesn't state any detail about their findings, or how they got their findings. Does the report include trial members? Does it take into account those who may drop the premium TV channels but not get Netflix, or Hulu Plus or Amazon? We don’t know.

          

            My wife and I just recently got Hulu Plus, something my wife enjoys much more than me (its menu is truly the worst I’ve ever had to use), but still it is a trend that can only grow. “According to NPD’s “The State of SVOD” report, 32 percent of U.S. households were subscribed to premium-TV channels in August of 2013, compared to 27 percent of U.S. households that subscribed to SVOD services.”

            “As SVOD services have gained momentum, it’s clear that some consumers are trimming their premium-TV subscriptions,” said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis for The NPD Group. “As SVOD increasingly strives to become a channel itself, viewers might consider it to be an adequate substitution for other premium channels, or perhaps they are switching to economize on their time and money spent.”

            So a lot of people saw this and ran with it last week, but again, it left a lot of information out which made it all speculation – plus I was busy – so why bother posting it?

            Honestly, though, I know some who still have HBO and watch Game of Thrones and True Detective (and I know one who has HBO but doesn’t ever watch it, either he’s too lazy to get rid of it or he still holds onto the status symbol that HBO once meant), and others who have Netflix and wait anxiously for more Doctor Who, so though the tide is changing – I think – it’s not changing much, certainly not enough to HBO or Showtime nervous, right?  I mean, they even say they’re cool with people sharing their HBO Go accounts:

            Now today HBO (who is and probably always will be the mascot for premium channels) says that the findings of the NPD Group “The State of SVOD” are wrong; and this is important for 2 reasons.

            One, yeah, maybe they are wrong; as I said, there’s a lot not known about the whole report, which is something many were pointing out, so not a big deal, but HBO made it a point to point this out.

            Two, HBO made it a point to even acknowledge the whole thing, which I think is the best part. Again, none of this is really news worthy until HBO responds, and the fact they feel it’s worth responding too and defending themselves against suddenly gives the whole report more stable ground to stand on. What if things really ARE looking bad for HBO and all the premium cable channels? That’s bad for them, but really good for us.

            Is this a sign that things are changing sooner than anyone anticipated? Does HBO see things as more dire than others and feels that they are now on the ropes and need to start punching back?

            The whole thing is entertaining and kind of exciting; especially if it means the death of cable companies (did I mention they’re raising their prices on us here in Wichita?).