HBO GO Headed To TiVo?

tivo-hbogo

As TiVo begins rolling out Amazon Instant Prime and Vudu to Roamio and Mini units, an iOS app update slip up references “HBO Go” amongst supported over-the-top video providers. While the iPhone and iPad software description has since been updated to eradicate HBO Go, we’re hopeful this foreshadows access to the prized streaming service … versus a most amazing amazing typo or mental lapse, as getting a “HBO Go” from Hulu Plus or Vudu seems quite difficult. Make it so!

(Thanks Philip!)

24 thoughts on “HBO GO Headed To TiVo?”

  1. Good thing I grabbed the screenshot yesterday… you never know. :D But, obviously some sloppy copy editing. Unless all TiVo subscribers now get a free year of “Amazon Prime” – hoping HBO GO is something more than a boneheaded clerical error.

  2. Woo-hoo! Roamio ordered at sale price on final day. Service price grandfathered. Couldn’t let me stack the coupon code, but did agree to send me a complimentary (learning) Roamio Slide Pro instead.

    And if they do roll out HBO Go, and the overall TiVo OTT experience is ‘good enough’, all my Roku will be useful for is so my spouse can watch Homeland on Showtime Anywhere. Might actually eventually end up with a free HDMI slot. Whou’da thunk it?

    Input One FTW!

  3. It’s probably not as exciting as you think. Probably when you search for a show in the TiVo app, if TiVo thinks it’s available on HBO Go, they’ll let you click to open the HBO Go application already on your phone.

    Nice for being able to search from one spot, but not really a huge breakthrough.

    And, probably not about using HBO Go from actual TiVo hardware.

  4. “It’s probably not as exciting as you think. Probably when you search for a show in the TiVo app, if TiVo thinks it’s available on HBO Go, they’ll let you click to open the HBO Go application already on your phone.”

    The scuttlebutt on the tivocommunity forums seemed to learn toward the conclusion that it was indeed coming to the box itself. But who knows?

  5. Note that the release notes also say “3rd party content providers such as Amazon, Xfinity On Demand” and NOT Amazon Prime. That may push it closer to on-box than on phone HBO-GO.

  6. I am assuming this is too good too be true.

    That being said, if it is true, then TiVo will have completed my entire wishlist from a year ago. (android steaming, prime, uv, and hbogo).

    I guess the next thing I would put on a wishlist is that Disney movies anywhere. This is a super long shot since its barely on any platforms, but since I am a father of 2 young boys, this would be amazing for me.

  7. Got 20.4.5 update on Roamio yesterday – no Amazon Prime or Vudu (or, HBOGo) yet but coupled w/new iOS app I did get something I didn’t expect: palpably better iOS streaming, at least in-home.

    It wasn’t awful before, but particularly when starting programs or skipping ahead 30 seconds or back 8 through the iOS app there was usually a noticeable buffering lag and not infrequent communications errors when skipping ahead or back.

    Used several hours last night – buffering was pretty much instantaneous, even when skipping ahead. And not a single error message stoppage.

    As much as I stream at home, that’s a bigger deal for me than extra OTT services.

  8. “Probably when you search for a show in the TiVo app, if TiVo thinks it’s available on HBO Go, they’ll let you click to open the HBO Go application already on your phone.”

    Given TiVo’s business, that doesn’t make sense to me. Then again, a typo of this magnitude wouldn’t make sense either. We shall see.

    I tried updating my Minis, both on the priority list, the last two days… nothing as of 6AM today.

  9. Come on, man – this post has only like three sentences! ;)

    “software description has since been updated to eradicate HBO Go”

  10. “HBO GO is NOT coming to TiVo”

    Look, it’d be really weird if that was just a typo entirely divorced from reality, as opposed to a typo about something that is not even close to being ready for prime time, even in rumor stage.

    I’ve long thought the MSO’s wouldn’t allow TiVo to offer HBO Go, since the big MSO’s certainly don’t want to encourage TiVo, and currently, at least, hold full control over HBO Go access. But the typo gives me significantly more hope than I previously had. There is obviously, (to me, at least), something cooking at TiVo on that front. You just don’t get that typo otherwise.

  11. That was my first thought as well… but I changed my interpretation after Jeff’s interaction. Would be nice to be wrong. But I’ll have enough Fire TV Sticks to put two on every television anyway. ;)

  12. “but I changed my interpretation after Jeff’s interaction.”

    Sure. But isn’t that what one would expect TiVo to say if it wasn’t even close to being ready for prime time, even in rumor stage? If some sort of negotiations are ongoing, for example?

    I mean, seriously, how does that typo happen purely ex nihilo?

    “I’ll have enough Fire TV Sticks to put two on every television anyway.”

    You need to buy more. I hear that performance is better if you have four Fire Sticks on each teevee…

  13. No, they’d have told Jeff “we have nothing to say at this point” and wink. And then he’d have crafted a very different response to my tweet in regards to the blunder vs “agree with you.” That’s how I read it anyway.

    By the by, 4 Sticks per set actually activates the unreleased Fire TV HBO GO app.

  14. “By the by, 4 Sticks per set actually activates the unreleased Fire TV HBO GO app.”

    True, dat.

    But that’s not even the real magic. If you daisy chain the 4 attached Sticks together via USB, you get 12 Mbps streams across all streaming services and all ISP’s. Plus, your existing teevee gets automatically converted to 4K.

    I’m frankly astonished this hasn’t gotten more press. Seems a big deal to me.

  15. “I’ve long thought the MSO’s wouldn’t allow TiVo to offer HBO Go, since the big MSO’s certainly don’t want to encourage TiVo, and currently, at least, hold full control over HBO Go access. ”

    But you can get HBO Go on Apple TV, Roku, smartTV’s, PS3, & XBox. The MSOs can just not allow HBOGo app icon to show up as they currently do with Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, & now Vudu. My MSO RCN only allows YouTube and Netflix app icons with Spotify coming.

    With HBOGo 2015 you won’t need a cable subscription so it’s probably TiVo’s best chance to get the app. It’s not much effort to get HBOGo app up and running on a modern TiVo platform. It’s really HBO caring enough to support it on TiVo. Same goes for Showtime Anytime which recently added Apple TV to the supported platform list.

  16. “But you can get HBO Go on Apple TV, Roku, smartTV’s, PS3, & XBox.”

    You miss my point, Bryan10024. MSO’s especially hate TiVo because they want Input One, and TiVo is their only really competitor there. And the MSO’s control HBO Go access.

    “With HBOGo 2015 you won’t need a cable subscription so it’s probably TiVo’s best chance to get the app.”

    Maybe. We still don’t know what the ‘standalone’ HBO service is going to be. We still don’t even know if the MSO’s will still have control or not. And OTA box or not, TiVo is still mainly for folks with cable subs…

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