HBO, an American premium cable and satellite television network that owned by Home Box Office Inc., an operating subsidiary of Time Warner, has just extended its online streaming service offering into Asia by launching HBO GO in the Philippines.
HBO Go, the premium cable network’s on-demand video streaming service, was first launched in 2010 in the US, and is now available in the Philippines via its exclusive cable partner SkyCable. HBO GO’s unveiling in the Philippines is the second in Asia, next to Hong Kong.
On why choosing the Philippines instead of Singapore which boasts better infrastructure, Jonathan Spink, CEO of HBO Asia, said that content censorship has bogged down progress but he expressed optimism that legal matters can be ironed out to have a launch sooner in that country.
“Subscribers of HBO GO can enjoy watching over 1,000 hours of quality HBO original content 12 hours after US telecast. This helps combat piracy.” – HBO Asia CEO Jonathan Spink
Compared to the US where HBO has multiple partners, HBO Go will be available exclusively to Philippines SkyCable users, which Carlo Katigbak, CEO and president of Sky Cable, admits is a “huge boost to its value proposition.”
With HBO GO, Philippines SkyCable users now have access to over 1,000 hours of HBO original movies, concerts, documentaries and series they can watch anytime and anywhere on PCs, Macs, tablets and across iOS and Android platforms.
The HBO GO app is available as a free download on iOS and Android.
Also read: [Big Deal] Malaysia’s pay-TV operator Astro goes into home shopping business