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Yet another 'Game of Thrones' episode has leaked
When you have the world's most popular show, keeping a lid on new episodes is tough, apparently. After Game of Thrones' fourth episode hit torrent sites due to a leak from HBO partner Star India, episode 6, due to air on August 20th, was accidentally released by HBO Nordic in Spain. It was quickly pulled after an hour, but during that brief period, someone of course managed to copy the episode and it quickly appeared on torrent sites and the infamous Freefolk Game of Thrones leak Reddit.
New Starz Play website and apps stream only to Cox customers, but you might not need them
Earlier this year Starz pulled its online content library back from Netflix and now it's relaunching the old Starz Play branded websites and apps (iOS and WiFi only for now, 3G and Android coming soon) for authenticated streaming, similar to HBO Go and Showtime Anytime. There's also an Encore Play site, and it plans to launch one for its Movieplex channel in the future. Currently, the services only support logins from Cox cable subscribers, but if you're not on that pay-TV provider you may not be missing out after all. Starz has already licensed its content to providers like Comcast for streaming through its Xfinity website and apps, deals which it tells The Hollywood Reporter cover about 70 percent of its customers. Like HBO and Showtime, this probably is not a prelude to offering its service beyond the tethers of cable and satellite, but as exec Ed Huguez puts it, "it is an expression of (Starz') brand and user interface." That likely only applies domestically however, as Starz also announced it's licensing its content to the cable-free HBO Nordic service, and one can see how building up its technology means it could serve up its own streams internationally some day. Even if you get Starz, if your provider is large enough to handle its own business when it comes to online services this probably won't affect you. However, for customers on smaller cable companies or in the future when deals get renegotiated, you may have another app to add to your drawer for TV Everywhere-style viewing.
HBO Nordic to offer internet streaming subscriptions, no cable or satellite service required
While in the US, requests for an HBO Go subscription option that brings the channel's programming without being tethered to a cable or satellite-TV package go unheeded, HBO revealed today that its Scandinavian offering will do just that. While the HBO Nordic joint venture between HBO and Parsifal International will be available over "local distribution partners," it is also available strictly as an over-the-top service for VOD and subscription access to premium content for less than €10 when it launches in October. It brings all the HBO current and catalog content you'd expect (subtitled for the local markets in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) and it's also tossing in content from other providers, like the popular Canadian show Continuum. CEO Hervé Payan says it will be available on "any" internet connected device, and says the decision to go over the top is because its target group of viewer have changed their consumption to multiple screens. Netflix revealed its own plans to expand to the region this fall on the same day HBO Nordic was originally announced, and CEO Reed Hastings welcomed the competition with a message on Facebook asking when HBO would bring the service to the USA, and joking that it expected the first match-up to be in Albania. In case you forgot, that last dig was a reference to Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes 2010 statement comparing Netflix to the possibility of the Albanian army taking over the world. The battle is on this fall, we'll see if it's just a dry run for other regions soon.
HBO and Fox cut a deal to keep the movies flowing through 2022, HBO Nordic launches soon
Just in case you only thought Amazon, Netflix and Redbox were working the studio deals, HBO announced today it's worked out an extension of its agreement with 20th Century Fox. Already the "premium network home" of Fox flicks for more than 30 years, this deal is long enough to keep it going into the next decade. The LA Times reports from its sources the original deal would have expired in 2015, while the extension pushes it out to 2022 at a price of over $200 million per year. One key adjustment that's been made for the digital age gives Fox the ability to continue to sell its movies over digital stores even while they're airing on HBO unlike the previous deal, although we're told this provision does not extend to rentals during that time. That's on top of a previous tweak negotiated months ago that let Fox and other HBO partners provide digital copies of their movies on services like iTunes from the Cloud and Ultraviolet during the HBO pay window. One other note is that on the same day Netflix revealed its service is coming to several Scandinavian locales, HBO announced it's doing the same, launching HBO Nordic in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
